Sleeping Souls and Quiet Hearts
by FFsable
Summary: Two years after her coronation, Elsa is busy ruling her kingdom, fending off men, and trying to find time for Anna. Elsa secretly believed and hoped that she is doomed for a life of monotony. But it seems fate had other plans for our favorite Snow Queen. Dragons invade the Kingdom of Arendelle. Where did they come from? And more importantly, what does the lone viking want?
1. Chapter 1: A New Arrival

Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon or Frozen

* * *

Prologue

Elsa awoke with a quiet grumble, her usual pessimistic self-fired up on all cylinders. The Queen of Arendelle had one thought running through her mind. She had gone insane. Yup, it was the only logical explanation for her actions last night. The stress must have gotten to her head. Running a kingdom had finally taken a toll on her poor brain. Because the rational and patient Elsa would have never done this.

Am I a hypocrite now? Elsa thought to herself.

Elsa had first reprimanded Anna for being too hasty. For thinking that she was in love and trying to rush into marriage with Hans, who turned out to be the spawn of the devil. But now she had done something far worse. Not wanting to lounge around in bed any longer, Elsa decided to bring herself upright. The silken sheets gently slid down but quickly pulled up by her hands.

Sitting on a chair across the room, peering through the small window, is the only other occupant in the room. Often times, Elsa has had that same look through that exact same window to watch the sunrise in the background of Arendelle. But now her chair was taken by a man. With his unkempt brown hair and soft emerald eyes, the man looked through the window with a gaze that spanned for miles. It would make anyone think that he was harmless. But those people would be horribly wrong. Behind those features is a man with great power, capable of burning everything in his path down to the ground.

Seeing him only reminded her of her mistake. What on earth was she thinking? The ramifications of her actions would know no bounds. The future of her kingdom that once shined brightly was now covered in an ominous cloud. She simply wasn't allowed to make mistakes like this.

* * *

Chapter 1: A New Arrival

"Pleeeeease"

"No"

"Elsaaahhh"

"No means no Anna. I am far too busy today," Elsa told her beloved sister as she gracefully ate a sliced egg. In the early lights of morning the two sisters convened and ate their breakfast together in their private dining room. The room was furnished beautifully with various arts and paintings from faraway kingdoms, much like the palace's grand dinner hall. But the room was much smaller for the purpose of intimacy between the royal family and those close to them.

"But you are always too busy," Anna whined as she ate her breakfast. In contrast to her older sister's more refined and purposeful eating, Anna's eating habits were a lot less restrained , treading carefully along the line of being ladylike and uncultured. With a big huff Anna sat up perfectly straight, her chin slightly raised up to mimic her sister.

"Anna, I am too busy running the kingdom to build a thousand snowmen with you. Anna, I am too busy meeting some random dignitary from some random place to go shopping with you. Anna, I am too busy beating off men with my royal ice stick to dance around naked with trolls with you," Anna said with her most royal and official voice she could muster.

"I sound nothing like that," Elsa defended, abhorred by Anna's mocking voice that was supposed to be her. "And it's not like that Anna. As queen, it is my responsibility to care for everyone within the kingdom. I would love to spend more time with you if I could."

"Yaya I heard it all before." Anna said, clearly exasperated with her sister, "But this isn't about me, this is about you. I am worried for you sis, all you ever do is work, no time for yourself, no time for you to relax. I think you are starting to turn into a workaholic and I am getting really worried."

Seeing Anna's face Elsa couldn't help feel her heart tighten a little. She was right. All of her time was spent being queen and not Elsa. Secretly she loved her job as queen, to serve her people. For her subjects to come to her with their ideas and further build their kingdom gave her immense joy. But her job demanded her complete time. Before she could reply to Anna the door behind her sister opened to reveal one of her guards.

"Your majesty, a new group of arrivals have shown up and are waiting for you to greet them."

With a sigh Elsa got up from her chair.

"I am sorry Anna, but I have to go. We will continue this conversation later. I hope you enjoy your shopping trip today." Elsa said as she begun to head out the door before pausing and turning around to face Anna with a serious face.

"I am never ever going to dance naked with trolls. Under any circumstances Anna." And with those final parting words, the queen left the dining room with her guards. At her words Anna couldn't help but to let out a laugh herself as she thought back to everything they have gone through together. Through thick and thin, Elsa was always going to be with her.

"Same old serious sister Elsa."

OoOoO

Anna loved to go shopping. Every month Anna would string along her bodyguards, and Kristoff, whenever he was around, down to the pier to look at all the things the merchants from around the world had to offer, to experience a little piece of culture that she never got to see while she was trapped in the castle as a child. Anna was meticulous and methodical with her shopping, making sure she did not miss anything. After two hours of shopping she was finally at her last stop, a small merchant ship at the end of the pier.

"Hi!" Anna greeted the merchant.

"Why hello my dear! Pardon me but could you be lady Anna? The beautiful princess of Arendelle? My name is Johann greatest trader of seven seas! It is an honor to meet you your Highness," The merchant said as he waved his hands in a wide arc before bowing in a grand gesture.

"Nice to meet you too," Anna said as she began looking through his inventory. She noticed that the merchant had been traveling around the world to obtain his items but none were really unique or interesting. For the most part she could find any of his items anywhere else. Anna wondered why would he come here to try to compete with the already established merchants?

"I have never seen your ship here before. Is it possible that it is your first time in Arendelle?" Anna asked.

"You are correct your highness. It is my first time here. In truth my primary goal is to complete a favor for a friend of mine and it would seem that lady luck is on my side."

"And why is that great merchant of the seven seas," Anna asked. But before she could get her answer the sound of a mountain crashing down to the ocean was heard.

OoOoO

Elsa was bored out of her mind. Normally Elsa loved her job as queen. Others would have cried at the sheer tedium and amount of paper work and duties she had to do. But Elsa loved her duties because they contributed to her goal of helping her people. It was what she was born to do. Talking to diplomats whose only goal is to take advantage of her inexperience or take her hand? Not so much. With a simple nod at the men that were boasting to her, Elsa tuned them out and started to remember when things started to go all wrong.

There once was a time when she enjoyed meeting these ambitious men. After the "little incident" when she accidentally brought an eternal winter to her kingdom, bachelors started to flock to Arendelle in droves. At first it was really annoying, she was busy trying to get her kingdom back into order after her parents passed away. Everywhere she was: nobles, princes, knights, were hiding in every dark corner asking for her hand in marriage. Elsa disliked them all, how could any of them think she would fall in love with any of these pretentious and vain men? It seemed like she was doomed to be forever alone. But then he arrived. The man that is simply called 'The First' by Anna.

Riding in a sparkling white horse, the great hero Arbridge had entered her palace. He was a dashing man that made women swoon wherever he went. Charming, kindhearted, courageous and noble, he was perfect in every way. Elsa had though she had found her true love. But then came Mister Perfect number two. And then three, four, five and six came along. Suddenly the queen found herself surrounded by cut and paste prince charming from her children's book. They were all the same, what was once special suddenly became ordinary to Elsa. The thrill of talking to any of them got repetitive and boring. At one point Anna suggested she roll a dice and just 'go' with it.

Anna's idea seemed to work. But then a few men went and screwed it up for everyone else. From a reliable source, the queen heard that some of those men were insulting her honor behind her back; Calling her a "bitch" and a "whore" for playing around with them and not picking one, talking about what they would do once they were king, what they would make Elsa do.

Elsa was absolutely furious. She wasn't stupid, she was well aware some men would be only be interested in her body, her powers, and her kingdom. But to actually hear about it was a completely different subject. She would not tolerate this kind of talk within her own walls. Not knowing which men were talking like that, the queen decided to kick them all out, at great protests to them all. Anna said that she was being too hasty and emotional but Elsa didn't care. She wasn't emotionally attached to any of her suitors anyways and by this point Elsa decided that she was done with men.

The incident spread like wildfire alienating all the suitors. People started to say that her heart really was made out of ice. None of this bothered Elsa however because for a few blissful weeks, she didn't have deal any men. But of course it wouldn't last forever. Like cockroaches, they eventually came out from wherever they were hiding from for another shot at the famed Snow Queen. Two years have gone by and nothing has really changed since then.

Returning back to the present Elsa glanced down at her body. Her body hasn't really helped her cause either. On her day of her coronation, she was already described by many as a beautiful young woman. But apparently her body wasn't quite done yet. In the past two years, Elsa grew taller, curvier. By the time she finished growing, she had turned into a fully fledged, pure bred women with full hips and lips. Her beauty alone was enough to draw the attention of every man and women in a room. Anna had made no attempts at hiding her jealousy, saying that she was definitely going to look prettier than Elsa one day. At the moment Anna was going through a similar growth spurt and she couldn't wait for that day to arrive so she could hide behind her younger sister under the limelight.

A loud sound caused her to snap out of reverie. Curious as to what it could possibly that could be heard from inside her throne room high up above in her palace, Elsa took a look through her window, as did everyone else. Looking out onto Arendelle made her heart skip a beat. Elsa wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not. It was impossible to miss the giant white beast the size of her palace looming over the docks. Instantly Elsa remembered Anna was somewhere there. Her only thought was to save her sister. Calling for her soldiers, Elsa stormed out of the palace on her horse with her knights riding out from behind her.

As she got closer, the white beast seemed to grow endlessly in size. The roads was crowded with people running away from the danger. Using her ice powers Elsa created an ice bridge to travel above the crowds. Arriving at the pier, her army immediately went into formation to protect Arendelle and the queen, with swords drawn and crossbows pointed up at the sky. But the white beast was not their only problem. What was once indiscernible before back at the palace was now revealed. Surrounding the giant were hundreds of winged beasts looking menacingly in the sky.

Dragons.

Elsa went into complete panic mode. There was no way her ice powers were strong enough to take on this threat. She could certainly freeze some of them but there were far too many for her. And the dragons had wings which meant they could easily fly away out of her reach and burn down her entire kingdom. There was no way to win.

"Elsa!" a voice called out to her from behind. Turning around Elsa found her sister racing towards her. Running towards her as well, the two sisters met each other halfway. the queen gave her sister a protective hug before quickly scanning her for any injuries.

"You're not hurt anywhere are you?" Elsa asked as she grabbed Anna's head by her cheeks and thanked the gods for keeping Anna safe.

"I'm fine Elsa," Anna said, brushing Elsa's hands off and heavily embarrassed by her sisterly concern.

"What are you doing? You need to get away quickly it's not safe here. What were you thinking staying here?"

"Well I was going to, but then I noticed that the dragons haven't moved since they got here. So, I decided to wait for you." Anna replied.

"My queen, we are in position and are waiting for further orders"

Closing her eyes, Elsa took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling. With a quick turn Elsa stood tall. No longer was she the worried older sister, but the Snow Queen of Arendelle.

"Battle Assessment General,"

As there was currently no King, General Grahm was her second in command and her most trusted ally in matters dealing with her kingdom. As a seasoned veteran, the General was the most decorated and renowned soldier serving under her father. But those times were long gone. With graying hair the General traded in his sword for a pen, his body for his mind, destined for a life of luxury and politics in palace. But now it seemed fate had different in mind for the older man.

"Putting aside the mammoth, our soldiers outnumber the dragons. But that's assuming there aren't any other dragons hiding elsewhere. If this is all of them are odds are unfortunately just as bleak. With no way to hold them at bay we would be spread out too thin and we would slowly be picked off. Not to mention any other surprises that could come. Unless my queen has been hiding her true potential... our future does not bode well,"

"Well, they haven't attacked us yet so an all out war doesn't seem to be what they want," Anna commented, hoping to look at the optimistic and hopeful side of things.

"They did not take advantage of their element of surprise which could also mean they are confident that they would win in a straight up engagement. I'm not crazy about it, but surrendering might be our best option. Depending on their terms a quick death would be better than a life of servitude," the General added, his fists clenched with anger at the mere thought

"It won't come to that," Elsa said reassuringly even though internally she felt the exact opposite. She felt like her world was about to be set on fire "So long as I breathe I promise everyone that I won't let that happen. It's time to stop waiting around."

Understanding what her queen wanted, the general commanded his troops to open up a path for her. With a quiet thank you, Elsa started to walk out into the open with her General following closely behind for protection even though she was capable of protecting herself. With each step Elsa was closer to the danger. The cold had never bothered her before, but she could feel a chill running along her spine that grew stronger with each passing moment. Nervously she looked up into sky praying to herself that the dragons would simply fly away. Elsa had to walk out to the very edge of the docks before the dragons started to move.

The white beast gave a deafening roar and the smaller dragons reacted by flapping their wings and flying around in two circles to the left and right side of the behemoth. Then the dragons started to fly and crisscross, that slowly hid the humongous beast more and more, like bees to a hive. Elsa would have thought it a beautiful sight, if she wasn't so terrified at that moment.

The show proved to be short lived as the dragons unveiled what was behind the cover. Like a magician's cloak, the dragons began to move back to their original positions at the side of the behemoth. But this time the white dragon was in the background giving a sharp contrast to the single black dragon that now stood at the forefront. On top of the dragon seemed to be a lone human. Slowly the black dragon began to descend towards Elsa and landed gracefully before her.

Upon closer inspection the term "small" was the furthest thing she would use to describe the dragon. It was so huge that it could easily tower over the largest of men. His short front legs clearly showed that the dragon was bipedal, but chose to stand on his two back legs with his tail for balance. His wings were folded, but hid a massive wingspan. A small growl completed the dragon's first impression.

Unlike the dragon, the rider was much less imposing. The man was slightly taller than Elsa. Removing his helmet revealed wild hair, with the same shade of brown as the leather he was wearing. His features were somewhere between rugged and soft. With such a young looking face, some would have never taken this person seriously, but Elsa knew enough men to never judge a book by its cover. Especially when said person had a dragon army right behind him. With her royal voice, Elsa introduced herself and her general.

"My name is Elsa Queen of Arendelle," she introduced herself, before adding, "and this is my general. Welcome to Arendelle."

For a few moments the newcomer stayed silent, standing still with his emerald eyes staring into Elsa. His brow slightly furrowed as if he was concentrating very hard on something. The wait felt like an eternity to Elsa. Unable to take his gaze any longer, and much as she didn't want to show any weakness, the queen had to flinch to shake off her discomfort before he spoke.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock," he said simply as he raised his hand and started moving his fingers. It was a signal, and the bewilderbeast behind him turned and swam away.

Everyone silently gasped in awe as he commanded the dragon with such ease, when the beasts could easily step on him. For a brief moment Elsa toyed with the idea of killing the Dragon King where he stood, in the hopes that he was somehow controlling them and they would simply flee at his death.

"_No I need to play this out slowly and carefully_" Elsa thought. One wrong step would prove to be lethal.

"Why have you come to Arendelle? Hiccup Horrendous Haddock," Elsa asked.

With her question the leather clad king furrowed his eyebrows again in concentration. Before she could get her answer however, another loud roar occurred from the distance taking the focus away from the king and onto the behemoth. With another roar the dragon started the spit out ice at the island mountain that suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. Slowly the island mountain became covered with ice and frost, acting as a protective wall.

This completely shocked Elsa. The concept of an ice spitting dragon never occurred to her. Dragons in the books that she read as a child only featured fire breathing beasts. Elsa forced herself to ignore the dragon as he started to build up his ice. She turned her focus back to the king who seemed to be ready to give an answer to her query. With a raised finger he pointed directly at Elsa." _This is it_" Elsa thought to herself as she mentally prepared herself for the big reveal. "_No matters what he wants I will not falter. I am the Queen of Arendelle and I will not show weakness_!"

"Elsa Queen of Arendelle," the Dragon King spoke loudly.

"WHAT?!" A female voice yelled out from behind Elsa as the King quickly mounted his dragon. With a single wing flap the dragon took off leaving behind a gust wind big enough to force the general and the queen to brace themselves against the wind. After giving his short answer the Dragon King flew off towards the island with his dragon army following closely behind.

Pushing the soldiers aside Anna quickly ran up to her sister and grabbed her shoulder.

"Please tell me he didn't just say what I think he just said Elsa?" Anna asked desperately.

But Elsa didn't reply to her sister. Elsa became unresponsive to everything around her the moment those word came of the Dragon King's mouth. The queen stood completely still, wide eyed and frozen as she looked up into the sky.

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Beta reader: ShortChannel4

Cover page by Mistress of the Snow

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	2. Chapter 2: The Dragon King

Chapter 2: The Dragon King

Gathered around the darkened assembly room, the tired members of the queen's council waited patiently for their queen. After the dragons left, restoring order to Arendelle was a momentous task. The riots and the looting only began to quiet down near midnight thanks to the combined efforts of the soldier, everyone in the council room, and the fact that everyone was too tired to cause mischief anymore. With a loud rattle the large double doors opened for Queen Elsa with Princess Anna and General Grahm following closely behind. The council members all stood up from their chairs to greet their queen.

"Sit down everyone. We should start this meeting immediately," Elsa announced.

Once everyone was settled back into their chairs, the general walked forward to the center of the room to give his report. After the big spectacle at the docks, controlling the rumors and gossip that spread like wild fire was an impossible feat. The General's report was meant to separate the rumors from the facts.

"At approximately eleven this morning flying beasts that would be best described as dragons and a white dragon the size of a small mountain appeared at the docks. After talking to all of the soldiers stationed at the docks, the most consistent answer that I was given is that the dragon came out of a portal that appeared a few kilometers away. They maintained their position the entire time as the queen and I arrived approximately 20 minutes after. Our queen spoke to what seemed to be the only human among the dragons. The man has a medium build, with brown hair, green eyes, and was wearing what looked to be leather. When he was asked what he wanted, his exact answer was "Elsa Queen of Arendelle", before leaving the docks on his black dragon along with the rest of the dragons. The human and the dragons now reside in an island mountain that is covered with ice from the white dragon. We have yet to send any scouts for proper surveillance of their ice fortress. Despite their invasion, Arendelle has remains untouched by the dragons."

After Grahm's report, everyone remained silent for a few moment to digest the information.

"Is he a viking?" Councilor Reithan Isigrin asked.

"The man did not tell us he was a viking, nor is there sufficient proof of him being one," Grahm replied.

"But we do have some evidence to suggest that he might be a viking," Master Helgen, head educator, historian and personal physician to the royal family chimed in. "The time before proper recorded history is often convoluted and biased, however, in this case what we know of vikings is consistent everywhere. We all know how the story goes. Vikings who have disappeared for a time returned to the world riding dragons, pillaging and burning everything in their path. They were unstoppable and at the time it seemed like the vikings would bring the entire world down on their knees. But then they mysteriously disappeared once again. No one has seen a viking or a dragon since. Many expeditions have been made in search for them but the treacherous waters have proven to be too perilous.

"Which is why I don't understand how we can be talking about this when we should be taking action." Councilor Mia Seranov said, "That man is clearly a blood thirsty viking. He has come out of hiding to continue on the legacy of his savage race. We should be rallying the troops and forming alliances with other kingdoms and remove this threat from the world befor-

"Absolutely not," Elsa said, stopping Mia before she could finish, " Dragon scouts would easily spot any army coming to Arendelle days before they could arrive. Their ice fortress is right outside our doorsteps making Arendelle the battle grounds. Even if we were to win the fight, after the smoke cleared, there would be nothing left of my kingdom."

"If fighting is not an option then we have no choice but to give in to his terms," Councilor Eric Kedron said, taking his turn to talk. "Although his term is a bit ambiguous. As queen you can be seen as Arendelle itself, does he want Arendelle? Does he want to marry Queen Elsa? In that case he becomes king by default and rules Arendelle anyways. Or does he mean to take the queen away from Arendelle? Each one is subtly different but each one requires a different response. He didn't even give us a deadline for crying out loud."

Listening to the councilor's list of reasons, Anna tried her best to keep her head down, and tried her best to hold in her emotions. An emotional outburst would accomplish nothing. Whenever she thought that Elsa would be with her forever, fate seemed to always come back to tear them apart. Elsa was the only family she had left and was the person she loved the most besides Kristoff. She didn't want to lose Elsa.

As the conversations carried on, Elsa sneaked a peek at her sister in the corner of her eye. Elsa could see that Anna had her head down, her hair covered her face just enough to hide the tears that threatened to break out. Seeing her sister in such a crestfallen state, Elsa felt like she would break out into tears as well. But she had to remain strong for Arendelle and for her sister. Reaching out from under the table, Elsa grabbed Anna's hand in comfort before taking control of the room.

"Tomorrow, we shall prepare for every possible outcome. It is probably best that we don't keep him waiting for long. After the preparations are done I shall go to the Dragon King," Elsa said. During the entire meeting, Elsa remained strong and unmoved despite her situation. Her voice was calm and collected. The perfect embodiment of the person called Snow Queen. But in one of those rare moments, the queen's face softened as she gives them a promise. "Whatever the Dragon King wants of me, I promise you all that this is not goodbye."

Getting up from their chairs, the members of the court bowed their heads to give their respects to the queen. One by one, everyone started to leave until it was only Anna and Elsa left in the dark room. Slowly Elsa pulled her sister into a warm hug to continue their talk in quiet whispers.

"I don't want you to leave, Elsa," Anna mumbled into her sister's shoulder

"I don't want to leave either Anna, but we will see each other again, this won't goodbye. I promise."

"Can I sleep in your room tonight?"

"Sure,"

It was not until 2am, that the girls went to bed. But while Anna slept soundly, Elsa could not. The feelings that Elsa kept away until now have returned. At first it was anger. Elsa felt angry at the world, asking why things that were out of her control keep happening. First it was her powers. Elsa didn't ask for her powers, they were there when she was first born and as a result she lost out on her entire childhood and almost her sister because of it. And despite all of her protest, Elsa did want to get married, to fall in love. Elsa was patient, she didn't want to rush into a relationship, and wanted to find the right guy. But fate seemed to like to toy with her and decided her marriage on their own. Shifting her body, she turns to her side facing Anna.

Her hot boiling rage at the man who took away her freedom is transferred to her younger sister in the form of envy. Fate loved her sister Anna it seemed. As the younger one, Anna didn't have to worry about running a kingdom. The stress, the frustration, the long hours of work, Anna didn't have to worry about any of it. And when she almost made the worst decision of her life in marrying Hans, she got lucky and that things worked out in the end while also finding her true love in Kristoff.

"_No, I shouldn't be jealous of Anna_," Elsa told herself, "_I love Anna I should be happy for her good fortune. At least one of us will get a happy ending_."

Turning her body the other way, Elsa tried to go back to sleep. There was going to be a lot of work needed to be done before she left. Closing her eyes, Elsa tried her best to fall asleep and to not think about the worst case scenarios.

OoOoO

Step, step, step, Elsa's heavy footsteps echoed in the dark tunnels. With a heavy breath, she continued to run as fast as she could. Loud roars were heard from behind, telling her that the dragons were getting closer. Scared and with tears in her eyes, Elsa flickered her hands but nothing happened. No matter what she did or how hard she tried, nothing happened. It was as if she had forgotten how to use her ice powers. With no way to defend herself, she had no choice but to keep running. She didn't know where she was running to but the only other choice was to let the dragons catch up to her. The tunnel seemed to be endless.

After what seemed like an eternity, a white light appeared indicating the end of the tunnel. With nothing to lose, she kept running and was blinded by the white light. Slowly her eyes adjusted to find herself in a large open ice cavern. Ice spikes protruded all over the walls and ceiling that gave out a brilliant shimmer. But that wasn't the first thing that caught Elsa. At the very center of the cavern, was a giant ice sculpture of a wolf. Sculpted in its sleeping form, the head of the wolf rested on top of its front paws and the tail rested by the side of its body. However, Elsa didn't have time to marvel at its craftsman ship. Elsa looked all over the cavern, snapping her head from left to right, looking for an exit but there was none to be found. The cavern was a dead end.

Turning around to the entrance she just came from, Elsa wondered how much longer she had until the dragons emerged. But she was completely surprised to see that the entrance behind her was gone, replaced by a wall of ice. Elsa touched the wall, trying to figure where the ice had came from, to comprehend what was going on. The sound of ice cracking was heard from behind her. Turning around Elsa was scared witless to see the eyes of the wolf sculpture open and staring back at her. The ice sculpture had moved.

Slowly the ice wolf got up from its resting position. The high pitch of ice shifting against itself as the ice wolf moved echoed around the cavern, prowling towards its new found prey. With nowhere to run, the only thing she could do was press her back against the wall, silently praying to herself. Praying for the ice wolf to disappear, praying for her ice powers to return, praying for anyone or anything for help. But it was all pointless as the ice wolf opened its mouth, and Elsa was consumed by the darkness.

Opening her eyes, Elsa found herself surrounded by darkness and a masked Dragon King in front of her.

"I'm still alive?"

"Yes, but you will soon wish you weren't, " the Dragon King said, laughing as he jumped towards her. With nowhere to run, the only thing Elsa could was scream.

OoOoO

With a jolt, Elsa woke up from her nightmare. Her heart beated wildly as she jerked her head left to right to regains her bearings.

_"Just a nightmare Elsa, only just a nightmare_," she told herself as she turned her ragged breaths to slow deep breaths. Turning to her side, Elsa was thankful for the fact that she did not wake up Anna during her nightmare. It would only make her worry more than she probably was already. Wiping the sweat off her forehead with a nearby cloth, Elsa silently slid off the bed, careful not to wake up her sister.

OoOoO

In her semi conscious state, Anna reached out her hand across the bed. With a mind of its own, the hand searched up and down the bed, but grasps nothing but air. With the mission a failure, the hand relayed the bad news to Anna's head.

"Elsa!" Anna yelled. Turning to her side, Anna visually confirmed that her older sister was indeed missing from the bed. "_Did she run away?"_ Anna though as her mind slowly went into panic mode.

"I'm right here Anna, there is no need to yell," A voice said from behind.

Turning her face the other way, Anna found her sister, or what's left of her, sitting at her desk, quietly scratching her pen against paper. Elsa looked absolutely terrible. Her normally perfect hair was completely frazzled with split ends protruding from every which way. Her usual bright blue eyes was now dimmed and her heavy eye bags could be seen from across the kingdom.

"You look like a zombie Elsa! Didn't you get any sleep last night?" Jumping out of bed Anna walked up to Elsa to get a better look at her.

"Couldn't sleep. Besides I still have a lot of work to do." Elsa said simply, not bothering to looks up from her papers to talk to Anna. Despite her best efforts, Anna could not break her out of depression. After hours of trying Anna was pulled away by Councilor Eric, kicking and screaming.

One by one the members of the council visited Elsa's office to give their word of encouragement and to try to cheer up their queen. But their words are wasted on deaf ears as she dismisses each one without so much as a thought to their words.

First was Mia Seranov whose advice on how to deal with men, most likely did not apply to the dragon king. Next was the general, not particularly good with sensitive emotions, the best he could do was tell her that her bravery was commendable and that her father and mother would be proud. Unfortunately, Elsa had defaulted to her defense mechanism. To bury her emotions so deep that she wouldn't have to feel it. Her emotions right now we're a distraction and right now she was far too busy to be bothered by distractions. The Dragon King could get impatient and come crashing down on their heads at any moment. The sooner Elsa left, the safer everyone would be. With nothing left to say the General took his leave. Continuing on with paperwork, Elsa waited for the next interruption to arrive.

*Knock*Knock*

"Enter."

The door opened to reveal Master Helgen carrying a heavy book at his side. Flipping through the pages, he places the open book onto Elsa's desk for her to see. Sneaking a peek, Elsa found a diagram of the female body.

"You taught me all of this, I know how reproduction works, I don't need a reminder," Elsa said, her fatigue making her short with everyone.

"Although it wasn't said in the meeting yesterday, everyone was still thinking about it," Master Helgen explained. " This is the first viking we have seen for centuries. He might very well be the last viking. As such his goal might be to continue on his legacy and the heritage of his viking race through you.

Looking up at her teacher, Elsa gave him a bored and impatient look. She was not sure why he was telling her all of this. Elsa was painfully aware of this possibility as her brain vividly told her about it through the nightmare last night. Understanding the confusion on her face the doctor continued his explanation.

"Which is why I bought this textbook," With his finger, Master Helgen directed Elsa's attention to a single point on the female body. "Should you wish to deny him of what he wants, this would be the best place to do it. Blocking it with your ice powers will guarantee that you will not bear any of his children into this world."

Still without emotion, the queen thanked the doctor for his advice, before kicking him out of the room to continue her work.

It wasn't until nearly midnight did Elsa finish her final preparations. Not wanting to cause a huge commotion by parading through the entire kingdom, everyone decided it was best that she snuck through the town in secret with only General Grahm to accompany her. Anna protested heavily to this as she wanted to go with Elsa. Only after a thousand empty promises by Elsa, promising that she would see Anna again, did she finally give in.

Standing in the very same spot where she had first met the dragon king at the docks, Elsa looked out across the sea to the foreboding ice fortress. With her ice powers she created a frozen path to walk on. Before taking her first step onto the ice and the first step towards her new life, Elsa took a look back at her previous one. She wondered if she was ever going to see her again, to see Anna. Her life as the famous Snow Queen of Arendelle was no more. Now she was just Elsa, doomed to the life of servitude to the Dragon King. Putting the hood of her heavy white cloak over her head, Elsa made her way to the ice fortress.

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Cover page by Mistress of the Snow

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	3. Chapter 3: A Night With Hiccup

Chapter 3: A Night With Hiccup

It took Elsa nearly half an hour to reach the base of the fortress. By the time the queen reached the base of the fortress, she was silently cursing the dragon king for making her walk all this way in her tired state. With the palm of her hand, the snow queen glided her hand across the ice wall of the ice fortress. Comparing the ice created by the snow dragon to the ice creations of her own, Elsa hoped to learn more about of her own ice powers and any possible strategic information that might prove useful one day.

_"The ice is coarse, rugged and wild_," Elsa examined, "_The color of the ice is an opaque white compared to my own sparkling semi transparent blue ice." _Looking up she saw the thousands of jagged ice and spikes and noted how her own ice always came out symmetrical and smooth. Elsa spent a few minutes trying to recreate the ice in front of her but failed miserably with each attempt. Giving up, Elsa went back to her analysis. The final thing she noticed was how the ice itself is built, "_My ice is made out of one single uniform piece making it easy for things like cannons to break through but the wall in front of me is made up of layers and layers of ice. Only an overly __inordinate__ amount of cannons shots would be needed to penetrate through this fortress, _Seeing the difference between the two ice and its creators, Elsa theorized that the ice created was a reflection upon the creator of the ice itself.

Finished with her research, Elsa searched for the entrance to the fortress and spied an opening high up above the fortress. The Snow Queen used her ice powers to raise herself to the entrance. Upon entering the fortress, Elsa was met with dragons. The dragons were hanging from the ceiling and from the sides as fire exited from their nose and mouths, lighting the dark tunnels. This eerie sight did not faze Elsa at all. Energy was required to be scared, and Elsa was absolutely exhausted. Slowly a baby Gronkle floated towards her. Elsa followed the baby dragon with her eyes and listens to its high pitch wings flapping and its low pitch grumbles as it slowly circled around her once and then started to fly deeper into the caverns. Clearly the dragon wanted her to follow him and so she did, ignoring the menacing dragons that followed behind her.

Following the dragon the queen exited out of the dark tunnel and into a lighted opening. Looking up she could tell that she was at the very top of the fortress as the ice was thin enough so that the moon and starry night sky lit up the room. All around her the ice sparkled from the moonlight. At the very center of the room, Elsa found the Dragon King talking to his dragon subjects but stopped when he noticed her presence. Taking a step away from the dark tunnel and into the light for him to see, Elsa saw that he had shed his brown leather armor and shoulder pads and was now wearing a light brown tunic. Smiling, he waved his hand, causing all the dragons that surrounded the king and the ones behind Elsa to leave the room. Once all the dragons had left the two started to walk towards each other.

With each and every step, She could feel her nervousness growing stronger and stronger, not knowing and wondering what was going to happen to her. The king and queen met each other halfway, only parted by a few feet.

Slowly, with his bare hand, he reached out towards Elsa's face. Instinctively, she flinched away from it causing him to retract his hand. Remembering who was suppose to have all the power and the control, Elsa took a step closer to the man to let him do what he wanted. After a long pause of watching each other, the dragon king tried once more. Slowly he reached out and touched Elsa's cheek with the palm of his hand and his fingers buried itself in the tresses of her platinum blond hair. With his thumb and with the smallest amount of strength, he gently tilted her head slightly up to his face.

Elsa felt extremely uncomfortable under his scrutiny and in this position. The skin on skin contact, the atmosphere as the moonlight shined down upon them the ice sparkled all around them and their closeness, this sort of intimacy and romantic atmosphere was meant for two lovers. Not for the two of the them. Lovers would be the farthest possible thing to describe their relation. But Elsa couldn't seem to bring herself to hate their intimacy. With nowhere else to look, she was forced to look to his eyes. Looking into his lambent emerald eyes, she was reminded of the same uncomfortable thousand yard stare that he gave her yesterday at the docks. It was as if he was looking at something more than just what is in front of him. Looking at something deeper.

"You're tired," the Dragon King commented.

Hearing this Elsa panicked. Apparently no amount of makeup was going to hide the heavy bags under her eyes. "_Is he mad that I showed up so late or that I presented myself in such a sorry state?"_ Elsa asked herself.

Gently Elsa turned her head away to remove Hiccup's hand from her cheek and took a step back in the hopes that the small increase in distance would better hide her tired features. With both hand behind her back, Elsa stood up as straight as she could hoping to summon out every last bit of strength she had left to hide her exhaustion.

"I'm fine...ummm...Hiccup, you don't have worry about me," Elsa lied. Hiccup did not look convinced however. But she gave an inward sigh of relief as he does not seem to be mad at her either.

"Come," Hiccup said. His hand reached out to her took her hand without a second though. Their hands connected, Hiccup lead Elsa to a much smaller room, with a bed at the end of the wall.

"lie down," Hiccup said.

_"He certainly short with his words_, "Elsa noted,"_Well, time to get this over with. Maybe it won't be so bad."_

Having finally accepted her situation, she obediently followed Hiccup's orders. Lying down on the mattress, Elsa wondered what this was going to feel like. She hasn't even kissed a man yet. She had so many questions running through her head. Seeing as how Hiccup was the person who wanted to do it, Elsa decided to just let him take the lead and tell her what to do.

Elsa watched Hiccup as he sat beside her on the bed. With his head turned towards her, he slowly moved closer, the distance between their faces getting closer and closer. Closing her eyes, Elsa puckered her lips waiting for the kiss. She could feel his presence grow stronger and stronger, her heart raced in nervousness as he drew closer, his arms wrapping around her body. Before she could comprehend what was going on, Elsa felt her body being pulled and then something hot, hard and heavy was pressed up against her face. Opening her eyes to see what was going on, Elsa found her head resting on Hiccup's arm, and the thing that was hot, hard, heavy and was pressing against her face was Hiccup's chest. With his other arm, he wrapped it underneath her own arm and his legs had forced their way between Elsa's legs, intertwining their legs together. Elsa felt like she was wrapped inside a cocoon.

"What's going on?" Elsa asked.

"Rest, Elsa." Hiccup said simply.

Looking up, Elsa saw Hiccup with his eyes closed, his breathing brushed against the top of her hair. Watching him, Elsa wondered if he was some sort of masochist, and was waiting to take all her hopes away the moment she lets her guard down. Watching carefully, Elsa waited for any surprises. After a while Elsa could feel the arm pressing against her back loosen, and his breathing became softer as if he had fallen asleep. Well, if Hiccup was going to give her what she wanted the most since this morning, she wasn't going to argue with him. Elsa shifted her body slightly to get used to her new position. Feeling the exhausting return to her in a massive wave, the queen closed her heavy eyelids and fell into a deep slumber.

The next day Elsa woke up to find the warmth and pressure gone, the sound of a roaring fire crackling and an aroma she could not identify. Opening her eyes, the queen stretched her body in an undignified manner. For the first time in what felt like forever, Elsa felt like she had a good night's sleep. Sitting up, she followed her senses to find Hiccup by the window next to the fire. The aroma she smelt moments ago turned out to be fish cooking on a stick.

Noticing that she was awake, Hiccup gave her a warm smile and motioned her to come sit in the chair next to him. Getting herself seated, Hiccup, handed her a fish on a stick.

Curiously Elsa took a bite of the fish, and to her enjoyment, she found the taste to be quite pleasant. Back at the palace, her top chefs cooked her the most flavorful fish that was beautifully garnished and seasoned. Compared to her chefs, Hiccup's cooking was quite...basic.

But Elsa found Hiccup's basic cooking skills to be quite pleasant. The fish had a mild flavor that Elsa enjoyed because it was easy on her taste buds that have just woken up, compared the burst of flavors at home. Elsa was enjoying her breakfast when she noticed a small window that she did not see previously last night. looked out through the window, Elsa could see her kingdom and her palace in the distance. Seeing this Elsa immediately panicked. The thought of being forever trapped in this fortress, doomed to watch over her kingdom but never being allowed to step inside, never being allowed to see Anna was too much for her.

"Hiccup I know we had an agreement, but I'm the Queen of Arendelle and my people need me," Elsa said, as she looked to Hiccup hoping that he would understand.

"Eat first."

"_Great, another short ambiguous response_," Elsa thought, frustrated with Hiccup speech pattern. With no other choice Elsa did as she was instructed. When she finished her meal, Hiccup took her hand once more and lead her through the caverns.

After a short walk Elsa found herself in a room full of dragons. Clearly this was their nest. Watching the dragons in their natural habitat and with baby dragons flying around made them look less menacing compared to yesterday. Turning back she found Hiccup gone but with a quick look Elsa found him again next to opening that lead to the open sky with a blue dragon. Smiling, Elsa hoped that this was what she thought this was. Hiccup was going to take her back to Arendelle. As she walked towards him she took a good look at the dragon. This dragon was different compared to the black dragon that she saw Hiccup riding yesterday. This dragon was mostly blue and is covered in colored spikes. It looks quite beautiful in its sitting position.

When she reached him, Hiccup's hands started to reached out to face. Being the quick learner that she was, Elsa knew that Hiccup was about to do something weird again and tried to step away from the clutches of his hand. But Hiccup was too fast for her and grabbed her cheeks with two hands and pulled her towards his face. Opening her eyes, Elsa found their foreheads touching together. His forehead was separating the bangs of her hair and their faces was in such close proximity to each other that a small twitch could connect their lips, Elsa couldn't help but turn as red as a tomato.

"Elsa care for Arendelle." Hiccup said with his eyes close, "Elsa care for Elsa too."

Hearing his words Elsa could feel a warm feeling that formed in her heart and spread across her body. For some reason the fact that Hiccup was worried about her made herself feel giddy inside.

"I understand Hiccup, I promise to take better care of myself," Elsa said. With her promise Hiccup opened his eyes with smile and gazed into her eyes. After a short pause the two separated and Hiccup helped Elsa onto the Nadder.

"Remember. Legs firms. Hands firm." Hiccup said, showing her where to hold, "Wind strong. Keep low," and with those final flying instruction Hiccup took a step back. Seeing this Elsa panicked.

"You're not just going to send me out flying on a dragon by myself are you?"

"Busy. Trust dragon. Elsa safe. When Elsa finish. I will come," Hiccup replied to her concern. As he waved goodbye to Elsa, the Nadder took off before Elsa could argue back.

"Hiiccupp!" Elsa cried out as she hung on for dear life.

OoOoO

From high up above, Anna stared out across the kingdom towards the ice fortress hoping for the return of her sister. Last night she prayed all night for the safety and return of her sister. At first light Anna ran out to the stables to wait for her sister at the pier but was stopped by General Grahm. If people saw the princess waiting around by the pier, people would start to wonder why and it wouldn't be long before people started to assume the worst which would cause mass hysteria.

Anna felt like she had been waiting for an eternity with each passing minute being longer and longer. After waiting for two hours Anna wanted to cry. Completely crestfallen Anna was about to go back inside when she heard a high pitch caw.

Looking up Anna saw a blue dragon and riding on top was Elsa.

"ELSAAAAA!" Anna yelled out to grab her sister's attention. Tears of joy escaped her eyes.

With a loud thump, the Nadder landed onto the upper gardens of the palace. Carefully Elsa slid off the blue dragon and was about to thank the dragon for returning her safely back home but before she could, the Queen was tackled to the floor by the princess.

"I am so happy that you are back home safe Elsa!" Anna said, crying into her chest and clinging onto her for dear life.

"I'm glad to be home too Anna," Elsa said.

Removing her face from her chest, Anna took a good look at her sister's face

"What happened in that ice fortress last night Elsa?" the little sister asked. Seeing her older sister frown and turn her face away from her questions, Anna immediately assumed the worst and went back to hugging her sister and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck.

"It's okay Elsa, no matter what happened last night I promise to be there for you. Just let it all out," Anna cried. Anna waited patiently for Elsa, prepared to in each other embrace, for however it long it took for Elsa to talk to her. Feeling Elsa hand rub against her back Anna knew that she was ready.

"Hh- he used me."

_"Oh gawd!" _Anna thought as tears began to fall out her eyes once again. "_Why did it have to happen to Elsa? Why couldn't it have been me? No! Now is not the time to be weak Anna! Your sister needs you now!"_

"Go on Elsa I know you can do it. Just let it all out!"

"HE USED ME AS A BODY PILLOW!"

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Cover page by Mistress of the Snow

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	4. Chapter 4: Denial?

Chapter 4: Denial?

Gathered around the council room, the council members waited patiently for the queen.

"Where is her Majesty?" Councilor Eric asked.

"She is currently taking a bath. I was nearby when I heard that she had returned. I went to her room to talk to her but a servant told me Queen Elsa requested privacy and would answer any questions during the meeting" Councilor Mia replied, as she sat across from him.

"Is the queen taking a bath implying what I think it is implying?" Councilor Reithan asked with a frown on his face, as he was clearly worried about the well-being of Elsa.

"Implying that the queen was raped last night and is trying to physically, mentally, and spiritually clean herself with a bath? I think not," an old voice said from behind. Turning their heads to the familiar voice, the council members see Master Helgen enter the room.

"I had a look at Queen Elsa just a few moments ago and she will be arriving shortly. She was practically dragged into my office by Princess Anna. She kept raving on about how she was fine but her sister was unconvinced. Taking a look at the queen myself, she was regal and calm as ever, perhaps even more so than the past couples of month. In truth I was starting to get worried about her health and stress before this whole incident but now it seems she is better than ever. The women I looked at just a few moments ago is not a woman who was raped and is in denial."

Listening to the doctor's words the men and women of the room quietly contemplated and compared them to their own thoughts. As it wasn't just the doctor who was worried about Queen Elsa in the past few months. The stress and overwork causing the deterioration of her body had everyone worried. Being the sole ruler of an entire kingdom simply couldn't be done. Anna helped as much as she could, but there was a limit to how much of the burden she could officially take. Every time the issue was raised by one of the members, the queen merely brushed them off as lack of faith in her abilities and strength. Elsa was in complete denial, which is why the council members found it difficult to see the truth in Master Helgen's assessment.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way Master Helgen, but I would like to make the same conclusion once I see her myself. A woman's intuition is rarely wrong," Mia Seranov said.

"Then take a look all you want," Elsa said, coming into the room with the general and Anna following closely behind her. Gone was her dress from last night, replaced with the familiar green and violet royal dress, with her hair wound up in a tight bun and her crown resting comfortably on top of her head. Taking her seat on the throne, all eyes were on her.

Reithan tried his best to identify any vulnerability from the queen. She seemed to look much better than how she looked yesterday. Glancing over at his fellow members they all shared the same puzzled look and disbelief. It seemed everyone was unconvinced that nothing happened to the queen last night. Seeing as how this wasn't getting them anywhere, Reithan decided to simply ask the Queen.

"Are you okay Queen Elsa?" Reithan asked with clear cautiousness in his voice, as if he was scared that Elsa was made of glass and would shatter at any moment with just his question.

"That certainly is the question everyone has on their minds isn't it?" Elsa replied with a small smile and exuded absolute confidence as if she could not be touched. "I suppose I shouldn't keep you all waiting any longer." With a straight face Elsa shifts her leg over the other and began to depict her adventure last night with a dramatic voice complete with arm waving and overacting to complete her dramatization.

"When I arrived at his ice fortress last night, he ORDERED me into his bed. And then he FORCED me to sleep in his arms." Elsa described with a fake distress in her voice as she hugged herself with her arms. With her tone of voice and body movement being completely mismatched to her teasing eyes and radiance. Elsa continued the tale of her horrific time with the dragon king. "In the morning he MADE me eat breakfast and then sent me off on a dragon, ALONE to fly myself home. It was a truly frightening experience." Ending her tale, Elsa left everyone in the room, except Anna, completely flabbergasted and in disbelief.

"Elsa, no matter how scared you are or how frightening last night was for you, you need to tell us the truth. It's not healthy to keep it all inside, you are still our queen and we won't think any less of you. Or is the dragon king making you keel it a secret?" Eric asked with concern.

Seeing that Elsa might have taken her joke a bit too far in such a serious matter,. Sitting up straighter the queen decided to put an end to it once and for all.

"I am telling the truth. I am not scared. In fact I feel quite the opposite. Hiccup did not rape me, he didn't try to hurt me and he certainly did not make me keep this a secret. We truly did just sleep together in each other's arms. In addition, he also understands my position and does not plan to interfere with my duties as queen. The only thing that has changed is where I will be spending my nights, with Hiccup in his ice fortress. Things have turned out better than expected… unless something happened while I was gone?" Elsa asked, as she turned to face her general with a curious look. For some reason the queen did not seem to be worried at all even though she did not know the answer. Having the attention suddenly thrown onto him, the general couldn't help but let out a small cough as he stood up straighter to give his report.

"We have tightened the patrols around the docks and have added better lighting in key areas for the night. There have been no reported sights of any dragons besides the one her majesty was riding on this morning." With everyone's attention on him, the general took this opportunity to give his opinion on the matter.

"That doesn't mean we should let down our guards. Odd as this may be, Arendelle is still being held hostage. Things are fine now but we have no way telling if that might change. For the time being, we should gather more information and prepare just in case," General Grahm warned.

"Well I only spent one night there so far, and Hiccup doesn't seem to be very talkative so I didn't get very much information. The walls of fortress is quite thick except for at the very top so that light could get in. We would need a lot more firepower to get through them and the only entrance is high above," Elsa said.

"That certainly isn't much information go on," The General commented as the others agreed.

"If I find anything useful I will be sure to inform you all. Until then, you are all dismissed" With those final words everyone began to get up from their sets and leave the room. Everyone except for Kai, the minister of finance, who had been quiet this entire time.

"A quick word my Queen," Kai said,

"I sure hope so, I have a lot work to do." Elsa said sitting back down on her throne.

"It is Queen Elsa. The Ice Fortress is located out at sea. There isn't really much out there and if the dragons aren't eating humans then they must be eating fish. Is the fishing trade going to be out of business and what about trades by sea? Arendelle relies quite heavily on those trades. Closing the docks for a day or two won't be much of a problem but any longer and it will become serious. If you could inquire the Dragon King about this matter and get back to me it would greatly appreciated," Kai said before leaving.

With the hustle and bustle finally over Elsa returned to her office to begin the paperwork with Anna closely behind her. Upon entering the office, one is met with a very familiar site. The Queen and Princess work side by side with only the rhythmic sound of pen scratching paper to fill the room.

"You're not taking this seriously," Anna said suddenly.

"Of course I am taking this seriously, I have been working nonstop for the last two hours." Elsa replied.

"I am talking about the viking and his army of dragons situation," Anna said as she dropped her pen and turned to look at her sister with an angry face. "You can't just stay complacent with the way things are."

"It's called going with the flow Anna, I'm not going to try to go against an unstoppable force of dragons. Not when things are just fine and the consequences dire. If you are worried about me, don't be. Hiccup has been nothing but nice and pleasant to me so far." Elsa said, but Anna remained unconvinced. In fact she looked even angrier than before. So Elsa decided to explain herself more, "now that I think about it, those would be the best word to use to describe my entire experience last night. Nice and pleasant." Elsa said.

Getting up from her chair so she could add emphasis and energy to her story. "Last night, the first dragon I met was nice. He was a cute baby dragon, and kind of like Olaf with his big round eyes, and body, but with flapping wings. The ice fortress I spent the night was nice. As a fellow ice maker and self declared Snow Queen, I gave it my approval. And Hiccup was nothing but nice and more importantly also different. All my past suitors have been energetic and aggressive, trying to make a connection with me that wasn't there, trying force a relationship where none existed.

"You know what else is different from all your other past suitors? They didn't threaten Arendelle just to get to you. Whether or not he was nice to you is a mute point Elsa. That man is not in love with you. How can he? You two have never met before. He has an extremely unhealthy obsession with you. One that will rear its ugly head one day," Anna retorted.

"What are you talking about? Of course some have tried to threaten Arendelle just to get to me. Promises of trade embargoes, unpleasant and unfortunate accident. Some of them even threatened war. Hiccup is not the first one, he is just the first one to be successful at it."

"Besides the whole 'be with me or I destroy Arendelle' matter, I think Hiccup is quite the likable person. And if you get closer look he is quite handsome. Not "prince charming" handsome, but in a different wild and rugged sort of way." Anna's face turned red with anger as she clenched her jaw and tried her best to hold in her frustration. A task that turned about to be impossible as she exploded with anger.

"But you will never love him Elsa. Because at the very core, that man threatened Arendelle to get to you. He took away your freedom to choose who you love. The one thing that you wanted to keep for yourself and argued constantly with members of the court about.

"That is true. And I certainly did try my best but life doesn't always go the way you want it to."

"Just because it's fine now, doesn't mean it will be in the future. Years will go by, and you will continue on living wondering what true love is like. You will resent him for taking that away from you but you will also hate yourself even more for not being able to do anything about it. It will slowly eat away at you and then you will stop caring. Eventually you will turn into zombie Elsa. Just like you were yesterday morning." Anna said as she got up off her chair to hug her sister tightly. Sobbing, Anna's voice quavered and he body shook as she held onto her beloved sister.

"You deserve true love Elsa, you deserve to have what I have with Kristoff. When I am with him, I feel like I am the happiest girl in the world. I want that same happiness for you Elsa. I want you to feel like you are the happiest girl and not turn into an empty husk," Anna said with her voice straining and on the verge of tears.

Listening to her, Elsa could feel her pain. She was joyful whenever Anna was happy, and hurt whenever Anna was sad, wishing she could take her pain away. Of course it would work the same for Anna. But Elsa wasn't sure what to say or what to do, to make her feel better. Holding Anna and rubbing her back, Elsa struggled to find the right words.

"Anna…" Elsa said but is stopped abruptly when Anna grabs her by both her shoulders and forcing her to face her. Anna's cheeks were stained with tears but her eyes were filled with determination.

"Elsa you need to promise me you won't give up. Get as much information as you can but don't get any closer to that man. Don't grow an attachment to that man. We will find a way to get rid of him and his dragons." Anna said. Elsa didn't quite share the same optimism as her sister. But her younger sister said it with such a convincing and determined manner that Elsa couldn't help but agree.

"I promise."

OoOoO

It wasn't until near midnight when Elsa finally finished her paperwork. Things were quite hectic the past three days, but now that things have settled down, Elsa hoped that she would have more free time. With an undignified but satisfying groan, Elsa, slouched in her chair. Staring aimlessly at the ceiling, Elsa hoped to get a breather just for a few moments to think back on Anna's words.

_"Anna is right. When did I become so complacent?"_ Shifting in her seat, Elsa recalls the events that happened last night. "_The feelings that I felt last night… is not me at all. Nervous but never scared. Anxious but always complacent. I talked about returning to him every night as if it was nothing, when I should be dreading the idea. Why am I acting this way for a man I just met? It makes no sense at all, did Hiccup do something to me that I wasn't aware of?"_

*Knock Knock*

Elsa thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door banging as she called the person to enter. After a short pause, a man from her royal guards came in.

"Queen Elsa, five dragons have landed on the upper gardens."

"The Dragon King is not there?" Elsa asked.

"No, your majesty," the guard replied.

_"That's odd, he said he was going to be there to pick me up_," Elsa thought.

With a nod Elsa started to follow the guard to the upper gardens. Elsa found the familiar blue dragon that she rode this morning along with two Nightmares and two Gronkles sitting at the end of her gardens along with General Grahm and Master Helgen standing off to the side with a few soldiers next to the palace entrance. When Elsa arrived the general and the doctor were already engaged in a conversation.

"These dragons are truly fascinating. Animals that can fly are known to be smaller in size but here we have dragons easily towering the biggest of animals. And such variety as well." Master Helgen said, "During their time Vikings riding dragons looked like they were going to control the whole world. I wonder if knights riding dragons could do the same thing. "

"That certainly is an interesting premise, a knight riding a dragon into battle, it would probably be an amazing and a terrifying experience for the enemy," Grahm mused.

"Well the queen did ride one this morning we could just ask her," Helgen noted.

"Terrifying," Elsa answered as she walked onto the garden, grabbing the attention of all the men, "but once the fear of falling disappears, it truly does become magical, it reminded me of the first time I discovered my powers."

Turning around the two men and her soldiers gave a smart salute to the queen. Walking by them Elsa gives them a quick thank you for all their hard work today.

"Before you go I have a quick report to make," the general said, grabbing Elsa's attention. "The scouts have reported that the dragons are bringing in raw materials into the fortress. Large trees, rocks, and whatnot. They are making an effort to take longer trips to gather their resources so pretty much nobody is affected by this. Couldn't hurt to ask the man what he is doing with all of it," Grahm reported with a shrug of his shoulder, not sure what to make of it.

"Thank you general, I will be sure to ask him" Elsa said.

"If you could also wait a bit longer your majesty, I have taken the liberty of preparing some things for you to take with you," Master Helgen said.

Elsa was about to ask the doctor what he was talking about but her question is quickly answered with Anna coming out with servants carrying chests.

"I've gathered up all the things you asked me to get Master Helgen," Anna said, " Various foods, herbs, and extra clothes, along with a bunch of other things I thought Elsa might need."

"Are the dragons even intelligent enough to know to bring this stuff with them if we ask them to?" Grahm questioned.

"From what I can tell, they aren't mindless creatures." Elsa replied, as she took a closer look to the dragons who have yet to move.

"Heyyy, ummm... Dragons, I am ready for you to bring me to your master now and could you take this stuff along with us to the ice fortress?" Elsa asked, pointing at the number of chests.

Slowly the dragons got up from their sitting positions. The blue Nadder from that morning walked up to her and lowered itself so that Elsa could mount her. With a quick brush of her hair, Elsa removed her crown, handing it to her sister, and undoing her hair to let her braid fall loose. Not wanting to embarrass herself, Elsa used her ice powers to lift herself up to her dragon. With a caw, the Nadder ruffled itself and opened her spikes to ready itself for flight. Sitting comfortably on the dragon's neck, Elsa took one last look at her subject to find everyone wide eyed as if they were bewitched.

"If I may be so bold your majesty. You look absolutely stunning on top of that dragon," Master Helgen said with a small smile.

"Thank you," Elsa replied. Her face turning red from being complemented in front of so many people. Elsa was unaware of how truly beautiful she looked. Sitting on top of a supposed mythical beast, the extra height caused everyone to look up to Elsa that allowed for the combined view of the dragon, Elsa, and the starry night sky and moon making it feel like they were looking at a painting. A beautiful depiction of a goddess, their Snow Queen. Everyone was snapped out of their awkward reverie when Anna steps forward to speak to Elsa.

"Elsa remember what I told you, remember what you promised me."

Elsa's face softened hearing her sister's word. The only thing she could do was nod her head in acknowledgement as the dragons took off.

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Beta Reader: Shortchannel4

Cover page by Mistress of the Snow

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	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

With a loud thud the dragon escort landed inside the ice fortress. Elsa quickly dismounted her dragon and gave herself a shake to rid herself of the jitters. For the most part Elsa found the taking off and landing to be the scariest part of flying a dragon. But once you were up in the air, the ride was smoother than any small boat or carriage. The flight was so smooth in fact, Elsa didn't have to worry about falling and simply let her dragon do its thing while she cleared her mind and wondered if tonight will be different from the one yesterday. Had Hiccup simply taken pity on her yesterday and held himself back?

Turning around Elsa checked the cargo to see if it survived the flight okay. She was happily surprised to see that everything was undamaged.

"Raaargghhhh!" A loud roar that sounded like Hiccup echoed throughout the caverns.

"Ruuugghhhh Nahhhhhh," As the roars of Hiccup continued, Elsa remembered her promise to her sister. _Elsa you need to promise me you won't give up. Get as much information as you can and don't get close to that man. We will find a way to get rid of him and his dragons_.

Thinking back on last night, Elsa relented to the fact that she trusted Hiccup way too quickly. _Hiccup has done nothing to warrant my trust, what he did for me last night was what any decent human being would do but I won't fall for it a second time_, Elsa told herself. With new found determination Elsa followed the voice deeper into the tunnels, hoping to uncover the mysteries behind his screaming.

Entering the familiar moonlit room where she first met Hiccup yesterday, Elsa found Hiccup lying on the floor struggling. His hands waved and his voice roared as he tried to get up but to no avail as his black dragon perched himself on his back and kept him pinned on the floor.

"Wraahhh, Toooothlessss," Hiccup yelled as he tried hitting the dragon by swinging his arm backwards.

"Wraaahh Rubb Rawrr," The black dragon mocked with a bored expression on his face.

"Get off me you stupid lazy dragon," Hiccup yelled back as he gave emphasis by whacking his dragon with each word.

Elsa couldn't help but let out of laugh. The sight of the master being dominated by his subject, was too amusing for Elsa to keep in. Turning her head, she tried to cover her laugh but her laugh leaked through her fingers. The dragons behind her started to laugh at the two as well. Hearing this new sound, the duo stopped their argument to see Elsa and the dragons watching them. With a small cough to control her laughter, Elsa started to walk towards them.

"What's going on?" Elsa asked with a bemused look on her face.

"We've been working all day, and Toothless wasn't too happy about it. This is him rebelling against me," Hiccup explained, "But I won't allow this act of defiance to go on any longer!" With one great huff Hiccup slammed his hands onto the icy floor and started push himself up. For a moment Elsa thought that he might be able do it as he managed to lift his body off the floor. Hiccup gave a loud roar as he performed his feat of strength. His arms and legs shook from the strain on his muscles as he managed to get his body a few centimeters off the floor before he completely collapsed back onto the floor, completely dead and breathing heavily on the floor.

Watching him Elsa is amazed by his display of strength. Of course men have tried to use their strength to impress her before but this was completely different. Elsa's amazement came from the fact that Hiccup wasn't huge and did not look all the strong, when clearly he was the exact opposite. The dragon couldn't possibly be light. His strength seemed unnaturally given his body size but that wasn't the only thing Elsa thought was off. For few moments Elsa thought Hiccup's eyes were red, which boggled her mind because she remembered clear as day that they were green. Which was impossible for her to forget given how long they have stared into each other's eyes.

With his breathing finally returning to normal. Hiccup looked up to the Queen, his savior. Having lost all hope of getting Toothless off of him with his own power, he turned to the only person who could help him.

"Elsa help," Hiccup cried looking up at her as he gave her a desperate look.

For a brief moment Elsa toyed with the idea of simply leaving him there, stuck and helpless. But looking down on him with his wide begging green eyes and pout, Elsa couldn't help but pity him in an amused sort of way.

"I would like to but I'm not quite not sure what to do," Elsa said as she held her right elbow in her left hand and her chin resting on her right palm in contemplation. Elsa tried her best to figure out the best course of action as she doubted attacking the dragon with her ice powers is the correct answer.

"Dragons like you Elsa. Try sweet talking Toothless, like a pet," Hiccup answered. _Not quite sure I know what he is talking about but I might as well give it my best shot, Elsa thought, if anything it will be good experience on how to deal with dragons, _Elsa thought.

Cautiously Elsa walked closer to the dragon, she slowly reached out to the dragon, grabbed his face and started cooing him like you would to a cat or dog.

"There there, everything will be okay, it must have been awful. Your workaholic master making you work all day with no play." Elsa cooed as she marveled at the smoothness of his skin

"Grhmmm," Toothless grumbled in agreement with Elsa as he closed his eyes in pleasure at the Snow Queen's gentle caressing.

"Toothless you traitor." Hiccup mumbled but is quickly silenced by Toothless, putting further pressure onto Hiccup's back that caused Hiccup to let out a yelp of pain.

Laughing, Elsa continued her mission to save Hiccup. Toothless' head darted from left to right in fascination and excitement as Elsa started to use her ice powers to create various ice sculptures of dragons all around them.

"Workaholics are no fun, why would you want to play with slave driver Hiccup when you can come play with the Snow Queen." Elsa said, completely aware of her own hypocrisy as she remembered all the time's Anna called her a workaholic and how she was no fun.

Clearly Toothless agreed with her as he got off Hiccup and started hopping around Elsa and in between the ice sculptures. Completely amazed by her powers, Toothless turned around to face the Snow Queen, opened up his back spikes, and gave her an enthusiastic clap. Elsa was overjoyed by her accomplishment but is short lived when Elsa suddenly finds herself surrounded by her dragon entourage who all had excited looks on their faces as well.

"Oh… you guys all want to play," Elsa said twirling around to take a look at all them. "Umm I am really tired right now, so if you could leave Hiccup and I alone for tonight, I promise all of you I will play with you some time in the future."

Hearing this the dragons became visibly depressed, as their wings and ears are lowered. The energy sucked out of them as one by one they slowly sauntered out of the room. All except Toothless who was giving Elsa a strange but familiar look. Staring at Toothless a bit longer, Elsa remembered why the look he gave seemed so familiar. It was the same face Anna gives her when she leaves Elsa alone with a man expecting something naughty to happen.

"Nothing like that is going to happen you silly dragon," Elsa's said. Her face turned red as she remembered all the things Anna told her to try on a man when they are alone. Imagining herself doing any of the things Anna suggested to Hiccup suddenly got her heart pounding. Toothless remained unconvinced as he slowly turned around and left.

"Thank you," Hiccup said appearing right next to her which caused her to jump up in shock and snapped her out of her imagination. Elsa, non-discreetly, took three very big steps back as she decided that being in such close proximity to Hiccup was extremely unhealthy for her heart at the moment.

Hiccup gave her a confused look, as they were much too far apart to hold a conversation but Elsa refused to look back him with her face still red as a tomato. In an attempt to fix their problem, Hiccup took a step forward closer to Elsa but the queen responded immediately by taking a step back, with her head still facing away from Hiccup. Hiccup's confusion turned into amusement as he took two quick step forward and watched Elsa take two steps back. Turning their situation into a games, Hiccup moved closer to her at various paces. Wordlessly he took two quick steps forward, one slow step forward, three steps forward and without missing a beat Elsa responded. Fear, excitement, nervousness, and anticipation her mind was in a complete hysteria trying to manage these polar opposite emotions.

Sadly, their cute game was fated to end as she bumped the back of the wall. Not letting her to get away, Hiccup pounced on her and slammed his hands to the wall to trap Elsa. With nowhere to run, Elsa slowly opened her eyes and looked up to a smiling Hiccup. Her heart was still beating rapidly and could practically hear her own heart beats in her head but managed to let out a sigh of relief as she did not feel any malevolence from the man who has captured her.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi." she replied, not sure what to say. But as per usual Hiccup decided to take the lead.

"So how was your day?" he asked.

"It was fine. A lot of work," the queen answered as she stared back at him. Elsa felt like Hiccup was unsatisfied with her answer as he continued to stare back at her. Giving it a little more thought, she quickly remembered her promise to Hiccup from that morning, "but it's nothing I couldn't handle."

"Good," Hiccup said as he released her from his entrapment. "What's that?" Hiccup asked, pointing to the stuff that the dragons left behind as he turned away from her.

"Oh, just some things that we might need. I think the right chest is my personal stuff, the left chest contains food and the middle one I'm not quite sure. Why don't we go take a look?" Elsa replied as she held onto her chest tightly. Finally free from his overwhelming aura and with his back turned to her, it gave Elsa the opportunity to calm down her beating heart.

With nod, Hiccup and Elsa walked up to the chests to take a look at them. Hiccup decided to look through the chest with food first while Elsa decided to take a look at her own chest. Kneeling down on the floor she opened the chest with a loud squeak and peered inside to uncover its secrets. For the most part, Anna didn't seem to put anything weird in her chest as she loved to pull weird pranks like that in the most unexpected times. There was some soaps, some makeup and some extra clothes. Elsa noted the clothes put inside were some of her more reserved clothing and none of her summer clothes for those hot nights as she picked up one of her night wear.

"Hiccup I am going to change clothes now, hold on a sec."

"Okay," Hiccup replied, too busy looking through the chests of food to even look back at her.

With a small kick of her feet Elsa, surrounds herself with ice to create a small change room. Moments later Elsa came out of the ice in her new night clothes to find Hiccup now done looking through the food and is now looking through the other chest.

"Hungry?" Hiccups asked.

"No, I'm not hungry, you don't have make any food," Elsa replied.

"Well if you ever need me for something, don't hesitate to ask," Hiccup said.

"Thank you." Elsa replied back. As she watched him carefully inspect every single object out of the chest with interest, she decided that this was the perfect opportunity because it was much easier to talk to his back rather than directly to his face and his attention divided. "I don't really need anything right now but I do want to ask you some questions. We should get to know each other a little better if we are going to be spending nights together."

"Ask away Elsa, I'm sure you have many questions," Hiccup said as he took out a bunch of plates from the chest and marveled at its pretty design.

"Well, let's start off with how you are using more than three words per sentence now compared to yesterday," Elsa said.

"I sure am! I'm glad you noticed, I've been practicing all day. It's been a while since I last talked to someone. A human I mean." Hiccup said, taking a short pause to look behind him to look at Elsa as he answered her answer.

"Haven't talk to a human in while? How long has it been since you last talked then?" Elsa questioned in disbelief that anyone could just forget how to talk regardless of how long it has been.

"Ummm, I think… about a thousand years?" Hiccup guessed, not quite sure himself

"A THOUSAND YEARS?" Elsa yelled out unable to hold in her surprise, clearly not amused by Hiccup's blatant lie and expected him to tell her that he was joking.

"Yup, it certainly has been a while. I'm surprised I got the hang of it so quickly myself," Hiccup said turning around and letting out a chuckle.

"Well then, what have you been doing for all these years? Alone and without human contact" Elsa asked, not sure if she should play along with his ridiculous lie any longer.

"Sleeping mostly, and also talking to my best friend Toothless. The dragon that you got off my back earlier."

"And before then?" Elsa asked, expecting two possible outcomes. The first being another lie that told her absolutely nothing and the second being answers to what happened to Vikings and where did they mysteriously go. Hiccup turned around and opened his mouth wide, enthusiastically about to answer her question but no voice came out. It was as if he was stuck. After some thought, Hiccup opened his mouth once more to give it another shot.

"I… I'm not sure… My memories are still a little hazy," Hiccup replied but seeing Elsa with a frown he quickly added with a small smile. "But I'm sure it will come back to me eventually, like my speech," Hiccup let out a big yawn, "Oh wow, looks like I'm pretty tired, why don't we finish our conversation tomorrow?

"You've been sleeping for a thousand years. Haven't you have enough already?" Elsa remarked snidely, still upset by his ridiculous lie.

"Aww don't be like that Elsa," Hiccup said laughing, "Sleeping after a hard day's work is one of the greatest feelings ever."

As Queen of Arendelle, Elsa couldn't argue with his perfect reasoning. Having no choice but to let it go for tonight, Elsa walked towards Hiccup and the group of chests. She took out some fresh bed sheets and brought it to their bed. Hiccup followed her and watched her as she spreads out the bed sheets over their bed.

_Looks like he wants me to get in first_, Elsa thought as she could feel Hiccup watching her from behind. As Elsa got into bed, she could feel the butterflies building up inside her stomach as she wondered if tonight will be the night that it will happen. Sliding into bed, Elsa chose to keep her eyes open this time. Watching him slide into bed next to her, Elsa let out a sigh of her relief, it seemed Hiccup wasn't going to try anything tonight as well. However, looking away from Hiccup proved to be her undoing.

Before Elsa knew what is going on, Hiccup grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up. The next thing she knew when she opened her eyes was that she was lying on top of Hiccup and her head and hands rested on his chest. Caught completely off guard, Elsa's heart started to race once more as she tried to comprehend what is going on.

"What's going on?" Elsa asked, as all her fears came rushing back to her but it slowly dissipates when she sees Hiccup's smiling face.

"Trying something new. Let's just see how it goes" Hiccup said as he pulled the beds sheets over them. With the bed sheets covering them, Hiccup rested his hands on Elsa's waist, holding her into position.

Not sure what to make of his reasoning, Elsa contemplated about her new position. With her head rested on his chest and her breasts pressed up against Hiccup, Elsa couldn't help her heart beating so fast that it threatened to burst out of her. Elsa wasn't sure if she was going to ever get used to this. But with some deep breaths Elsa managed to calm herself down.

With her body in check now, Elsa returned back to her musings. She had never tried sleeping on her front, mostly in fear that she would wake up with her breasts hurting or distorted. _But this feels nice_, Elsa thought as she shifted a little which created a friction between their two bodies that felt extremely satisfying. Right when Elsa started to relax, a stab of guilt went right through her heart. "_You shouldn't be enjoying this, Hiccup forced you into that position_," the Anna from her head said.

_Well it's not like I can do anything about it_, Elsa mentally grumbled, _and I can't help it. His body is just so warm and soft._ Elsa's argument doesn't seem to work as she still felt the guilt. It seemed arguing with herself wasn't helping. But then Elsa gets an idea. _Maybe if I try to get a little bit more information out of Hiccup and advance our goal towards our freedom it will make me feel less guilty._

"Hiccup, if I am going to be spending my nights here, maybe you should give me a tour of the fortress tomorrow in case I get lost. And maybe introduce me to your best friend and the other dragons?" Elsa asked. Opening one eye to look at her, Hiccup answered her question.

"We're not quite ready yet. Still working on stuff. When we are done I promise to show you." _Well that's not the answer I was hoping for_, Elsa thought. Laying on top of Hiccup, Elsa didn't know what to make of tonight, what to make of Hiccup and whether or not she could trust him... He was still a complete mystery to her, was his memories really missing or was that a complete lie? _The way he dodged my questions. I'm just not sure, _Elsa thought as she tilted her face up to Hiccup, resting her chin on his chest. Was this the real Hiccup, or just a fake?

Despite what Anna wanted and what she said, Elsa couldn't help but like Hiccup, the person she was resting on top of. The way his head fell off to the side when he dozed off and how his scruffy brown hair partially blocked his face, he looked so peaceful._ But you will never love him_, Anna's voice rang inside her head once more. To be honest Elsa didn't even know what that even meant. Love, it was only a term that she applied to her sister, mother and father. Not even Kristoff, the closest male within her age group didn't even belong in this category. Even after all these years Elsa still considered him as 'just her sister's boyfriend'. The only thing that she knew for sure was that, here, in this quiet ice fortress as the ice magically twinkled like stars all around them and sleeping under the moonlight with Hiccup, Elsa was happy.

* * *

Authors End Notes:

Big thanks to,

Colonel Pepper for helping me with this chapters,

Mistress of the Snow for making me this awesome cover page,

And to all of my reviewers for their nice comments.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

With a quiet grumble Elsa started to wake up feeling the familiar warmth of Hiccup's body under her. There was a certain irony to their positions. Elsa was trapped in bed with Hiccup under the fear of dragons attacking Arendelle. But it can also be seen that the one who was trapped in bed was Hiccup. Much like how Toothless had him pinned to the floor, Elsa's body, lying on top of him kept him trapped in bed with her as well. This concept amused Elsa, as she shifted her body to awaken her muscles. Rubbing the side her face against Hiccup's soft chest, Elsa felt something wet pressed up against her face.

"_Ewww, Hiccup sweats when he sleeps?" _Elsa thought. Not wanting something so gross pressed against her face, she used her arms to push herself up to a sitting position on top of Hiccup.

Still a bit drowsy, Elsa opened her eyes and gave them a rub as she looked down at Hiccup. There was a single dark wet patch on top of Hiccup. Sweat did not work like this. If Hiccup was sweating last night then there would have been dark patches everywhere, sweat stains on his armpits. But no, there was only one single wet patch. Right where Elsa's mouth used to be.

"_I drooled on Hiccup last night?!_" The sudden realization shocked her out of her sleepy state as she mentally screamed at herself. Her face turned completely red in embarrassment.

"_I have never drooled before in my entire life. Was it because I slept on my front?" _Elsa wondered in complete panic. Darting her head from left to right, she tried her best to find a solution to her problem, "_why can't I have just one day, where I don't get heart attack? How do I get rid of it before Hiccup wakes up and sees it?" _

Before she could hide her embarrassment, Hiccup shifted his body underneath her and let out a low grumble as his eyelids slowly twitched, signaling that he was about to wake up. Opening his eyes, Hiccup couldn't help but smile seeing Elsa's cute face first thing in the morning.

"Good morning Hiccup," Elsa said as she turned her red face away from him, as her face would surely give away her secret.

"Good Morning Elsa, I'm going to make some breakfast. While I do that, do you want to take a bath?" Hiccup asked as he rubbed her thigh. Still embarrassed the only thing she could do was give a meek nod. Getting out of bed, Hiccup patiently waited for Elsa to go her chests to grab some soaps and fresh clothes. Grabbing a hold of her hand he led her through the caverns. Following Hiccup, the two had come to a new open area, with a crystal clear lake.

"Careful, the water can be quite cold. But I'm sure that won't bother you," Hiccup said with a chuckle. After making sure she had everything she needed, he walked toward another cavern to start making breakfast. Undressing herself, Elsa takes a fearless dive into the cold pool.

Coming back, Elsa felt completely refreshed. Now in her Queenly attire, Elsa felt like she could take on the whole world. Seeing her coming back, Hiccup hands her a bowl of soup. Taking a drink, Elsa's taste buds gush in delight before taking a look at her magnificent cook.

_He changed his shirt. Did he see it? Does he know where it came from?_ Elsa thought as she continued to eat her breakfast. Sitting in comfortable silence, the two ate their meal. But after a few minutes Elsa decided to continue their conversions from last night and learn more about Hiccup and his dragons.

"Hiccup, what do dragons eat?" Elsa asked.

"Mostly fish," He answered back.

"Dragons can swim?"

"Not all of them. I will show you how we fish someday."

"Well then, how about trades ships and fishing boats? Is it safe for them to be on the sea? Is there enough fish for both dragons and humans?" Elsa asked, ramping up the pace of her questions.

"Not a problem. If people don't bother dragons then there won't be any problems." Hiccup answered that question while following up with the second, "And the dragons can fish far away so there's no worries. And if there ever shortage, dragons will be able to help." Hearing this, Elsa gave him a pensive look, as if she wasn't sure what to say. Frowning, Hiccup attempts to clear any up misconceptions.

"Elsa, I don't what you know about dragons but they are not killers. Well that's not completely correct. They can but they are so much more than that. Friendship, love, dragons can save lives Elsa and when humans and dragons work together, miracles can happen." Hiccup retorted. Seeing how upset he is, Elsa couldn't help but apologize.

"Sorry Hiccup, but there hasn't been a dragon sighting for quite some time, so please forgive us on any misunderstandings that we might have."

"It's okay Elsa I understand," Hiccup responded, giving her a reassuring smile and feeling a bit guilty about his overreaction. "Anyways, I plan doing some shopping today."

"Shopping?" Elsa repeated. Not quite sure if she heard correctly.

"I need some things, which I haven't been able to find out in the wilderness," Hiccup explained to her.

Elsa tried to imagine what Hiccup shopping would look like. She imagined Hiccup looking at various wares from the different vendors in the business district. But suddenly a loud noise was heard, Hiccup's dragon bodyguards with their large bodies had accidentally knocked over vendor carts causing everyone to scream and run in panic. And if anyone tries to do anything foolish, the dragons might go into a frenzy attacking everything in its path, burning everything.

"You don't have to go shopping Hiccup," She said a little too quickly, as she tried to figure out a reason why. "You sound like you are ummm... very busy with whatever it is you are doing here. You promised me a tour when you finished and I REALLY want to see it. Why don't you tell me what you want, I will get it for you and we can get your dragons to bring it to you." Elsa explained as she got up to rummage through her chest to pull out a pen and paper.

"Can you write?" Elsa asked.

"I think so. If there is any problems I can always just draw it," Hiccup replied as he took the pen and paper from Elsa. "Let's see now, what do I need, hammer, forge, anvil, and clean clothes," Hiccup said giving her an amused but accusatory glare. Looking back at Hiccup, Elsa went wide eyed and she turned red with embarrassment as she was caught red handed.

"I-I'm sorry Hiccup. It was an accident. It won't...it won't happen again." Elsa stuttered but Hiccup merely laughed at the expense of Elsa. Hiccup's laughing made her feel even more embarrassed as Elsa covered her face with her hands to hide herself, swearing to herself that she was going to die of shame. Lowering his laugh to a chuckle, Hiccup quietly snuck up on her, grabbed both her hands with his own and gently pulled it away from her face .Taking a look at her crimson stained face, the way her lips were slightly parted, Hiccup moved in closer and gave her a tender kiss.

"Sorry," Hiccup said blushing as he pulled back, his eyes unable to meet Elsa's. "You are just so cute sometimes, I can't help it." Touching her lips with the tip of her fingers, Elsa couldn't believe what just happened. It seemed Hiccup was trying to figure out how long he could keep her face red. Kissing her because he thought she was cute? Elsa couldn't believe it.

Hiccup was like no other man. This wasn't the first time Elsa was kissed. Men who had given her a quick peck expecting a cute reaction from her were given cold indifference. And the men who tried for anything longer were quickly shoved back and were given a verbal lashing. Hiccup's brief kiss was completely different. Her heart raced as their lips touched and her breathing became ragged even though their kiss did not last long. Their tongues touched for the briefest of moments, the way Hiccup's scorching hot tongue dragged across the surface of her own tongue, sent a shock through her entire body and a chill on her back. The sound that was made when their lips separated kept echoing in her head. She fell into a daze as her mind tried to understand what just happened and her feelings behind it.

"What gave you the right to kiss me?" Elsa yelled indignantly.

"Well, you gave me yours, It's only fair that I gave you mine," Hiccup defended, smirking.

Elsa was rendered speechless by his shameless answer. His ruthlessness as he took advantage of her mistake. A little bit of drool given turned into a full blown kiss from Hiccup. Elsa remained completely frozen as Hiccup finished compiling his list. Suddenly anger flashed in Elsa's eyes as she got up from her chair and swiped the paper out of Hiccup's hand. With a stomp, ice sprouted out of the floor and encased Hiccup in ice from the waist down.

"Oh wait! NO! Elsa? You're not going to leave me like this are you? ELSA!?" Hiccup cried out as he tried to break the ice with his fists. But Elsa was too vindictive at the moment to listen to him as she started to walk away from him. "_Just stay that way until I get back you stupid idiot_." The last thing she heard was Hiccup calling her name as she climbed on top of her Nadder and took off, leaving him the same way she found him last night, stuck and helpless.

High up above the clouds Elsa screamed at the top of her lungs, crying out all of her confusion and frustration. A scream so loud that it seemed to bounce off the clouds and echoed across vast emptiness of the sky. With a gasp, Elsa fell on top of her Nadder as she tried to regain her breath.

"Raaaawwwwwr," Her five dragon entourage roared.

"Shut up all of you, this isn't funny," Elsa yelled back at all of them but all she got was a laugh from the dragons. Frustrated the only thing she could do was continue to rest her head on top her dragon.

She didn't know what was happening, or what to do. She should have been indifferent about that kiss but instead it left her breathless and her heart racing. Elsa really liked Hiccup but at the same time she couldn't trust him either. Nothing has changed, she still didn't know anything about him. But Elsa had made a promise to Anna, one way or another Hiccup and his dragons had to go down. Arendelle will never be truly free until that happened.

"Hiccup, why couldn't you just be a villain? It would make it so much easier to keep my promise to Anna," Elsa mumbled to herself.

By the time the dragons landed on the upper gardens of the palace, a contingent of her guards were already waiting, expecting the arrival of their Queen. Hopping off the dragons with practiced grace, Elsa walked towards the guards who gave a salute. The captain of her guards stepped forward, and presented her the crown that rested on top of a pillow.

"We are happy to see that you are safe and unharmed my Queen," the Captain said.

"Anything happen while I was gone," Elsa asked as she rested her crown on top of her head.

"If anything did happen, it was nothing I was informed about your majesty," the Captain replied.

"Good," Elsa said as she created a standing ice table. Pulling out her pen and paper, Elsa ripped out the lower half that Hiccup didn't use and cut it into two pieces, with those two piece she gave Hiccup's answer to Minister Kai, and her General's question. In Kai's message however, she neglects to inform him that Hiccup and his dragons would be willing to help if needed. Folding it and signing it, Elsa hands the three papers to her captain.

"These two papers are to go to Minister Kai and General Grahm respectively," The Queen instructed, "This paper is a list of things the dragon king wants. Whatever he wants, make sure it is of good quality and not lavish. The dragons will be waiting here until you gather it all up and secure it for them to transport it back." Opening the paper the captain started to look at the list.

"I'm not quite sure what 'drool free clothes' means aren't all clothes drool fre..."

"Ignore that one," Elsa said quickly while maintaining a cold air of indifference, "That one has a different connotation, and I will take care of that one,"

Having no reason to argue, the captain gave a salute before leaving to carry out her orders.

'_Well, I guess I can't put it off any longer_,' Elsa thought as she headed into the palace. Entering the seamstress' room, Elsa can see that not much has changed since her last visit. A fact that she knew well before entering the room as Elsa was the one to blame. Shifting her weight from one leg to another, Elsa waited nervously as if she was caught in a web and was waiting for a spider pop out at any moment. Hearing the door open Elsa turned around to face the newcomer.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of my Queen visiting?" Gerda asked giving a polite curtsy

"To give you what you always keep bugging me out," Elsa replied, a small smile formed at the edge of her mouth, "Work."

Gerda's official job title was royal dressmaker. She was on permanent standby until either the princess or the queen needed a dress. As they both have far too many dresses already, Gerda found herself with a lot of free time.

"Ahha, I will get started on your wedding dress right away," Gerda said completely delighted while Elsa maintained her even face, giving nothing away to the older women. An obvious bait by the seamstress that the queen doesn't fall for.

Because the royal dressmaker has so much free time, she had to find a way to keep herself busy or die of boredom. As a result she earned herself a new alias 'black spider.' With nothing better to do, Gerda formed the union of seamstress, a web that stretched to every corner of Arendelle. Within this web, housewives and young women did what they love the most when they got together, they gossip. And the gossip they loved to talk about the most was royal gossip. Whether it pertained to the queen or princess' love life, or whether or not Councilor Reithan was cheating on his wife, the women of Arendelle ate it all up like ravenous animals.

Because Gerda lived within the palace and had so much free time, she was in prime position to satiate their desire. In exchange for what the housewives and young women of Arendelle wanted the most, she was given everything else. Nothing happens in Arendelle without Gerda hearing about it. However, this network of information was only half of Gerda's power which made it made it even more terrifying.

If she wanted to she could also fabricate information. She could also easily use her web to tell everyone that Councillor Reithan was cheating on his wife, and by tomorrow morning, all of Arendelle will have heard about it and believed it as if it were fact.

Such power is second to none only to the Queen and her general. Elsa would have ended it if it wasn't for the fact that Gerda hadn't declared her complete loyalty to the Queen and swore that the purpose of this web was purely for the use and benefit of the Queen. Two years ago Gerda came to her and informed her about this web and was the 'reliable source' that lead to the great exodus of suitors from her palace.

"When I need a wedding dress, I will be sure to give you ample time for it," Elsa said, giving her a noncommittal answer that could mean anything. Elsa couldn't help but be nervous, she didn't like the fact that Gerda knew more about the happenings of Arendelle more than she did. Of course Gerda always informed her of any serious gossip and important info that has saved her on many occasions. But Gerda also seemed to have developed an addiction to knowing things that others didn't and her secret job. The queen feared that one day Gerda wouldn't know when to stop and get caught poking her nose into something dangerous.

"I need you to make some clothes for the Dragon King," Elsa stated as she waved of her hand and created an ice sculpture of Hiccup.

"Oh my, such detail, you certainly have been very intimate with the Dragon King haven't you my queen?" Gerda asked as she inspected the sculpture.

"You insult my capabilities Gerda, I could easily create this level of detail with just about anyone," Elsa said trying to throw Gerda off the truth and to keep her interactions with Hiccup a mystery.

"Ooooh, I have so many ideas and things I want to try. I was hoping you would ask me of this. To be making a suit for someone so unique. The one, the only, the great 'Dragon King'. It is a seamstress' greatest dream. Ahhh It has been so long since I made a suit for a man, and one so handsome as this," Gerda gushed as she used her arms to brush her hands over the ice sculpture.

"I just need you to make him some comfortable ordinary clothes Gerda," Elsa said. Taking a step back, a bit weirded out how touchy she was being with an ice sculpture of Hiccup.

"Your majesty, you are ruining my talents for something so mundane," Gerda cried to Elsa. Her once bright mood was now completely deflated and her bright smiled turned into a pitiful frown.

"Get it done," Elsa ordered simply, not interested in arguing with her. With huff, Gerda took out her measuring tape and started to take measurements.

"Is there anything I should know about?" Elsa asked as she watched her work.

"Oooh it's the same old same old. All the women are talking about how their husbands want to pack up and leave Arendelle but they have all been too lazy. Stubborn men need a proper kick to get them motivated. I suppose we have you to thank for that." Gerda said

"The people are actually thanking me?" Elsa asked, as she felt like she hadn't really done anything special to warrant their gratitude.

"Well they are not outright proclaiming their gratefulness, but they clearly still trust you to handle this situation and for the most part everyone is more on the wait and see side of things. In fact people are much more interested in what's going inside that ice fortress. What the Dragon King and the Queen of Arendelle could be doing together all alone." Gerda explained, her eyes practically begging to Elsa for any hint.

"Why is everyone so obsessed with my love life or lack thereof?" Elsa said with a loud and tired sigh, "And what exactly, do my people think I am spending my nights with the dragon king doing what exactly?"

"Initially it was the usual terrifying stuff. Rape, torture, but after the first day when news of your well-being spread, it turned into positive things or just plain weird." Gerda replied.

"Weird?"

"Stuff like the Dragon King needs to drink pure royal virgin blood in order to survive, or how every night he turns into a more evil version of himself that wants to destroy the entire world and needs you to contain him. Or how their mighty Snow Queen has subdued the Dragon King, and every night, the queen travels to the ice fortress to continue her dominance over him. But those ideas are mostly from the men. The women are far more interested in the romantic theories" Gerda said smiling as she managed to get a rise out of the snow queen. Placing her measuring tape on the floor, Gerda slowly walked closer to Elsa to press her advantage.

"What type of romantic theories?" Elsa nervously asked, taking a step back, not quite sure if she wanted to hear it.

"The two of you falling in love at first sight. Lovers in a different life from a different time. Long ago you met him as a dragon and kissed him turning him into a human boy and has returned to marry you. Pretty much all the romantic stuff." Unable to endure Gerda's relentless teasing any longer, Elsa turns around and was about to make a quick escape.

"Please wait your majesty!" Gerda desperately called out. Turning around Elsa was surprised to find a scared women with eyes that looked like they were about to burst into tears. "Please Elsa. I know you like your privacy and I understand that. You don't have to tell me about what you do with the Dragon King. But please understand that I care about your well-being. Can't you atleast tell me truthfully if things are okay? He's not hurting you is he?" Elsa hesitated for a moment, unable to look at the older women. Gerda felt like her heart was about to break watching her. But then Elsa looked back at her practically glowing.

"There's no need for you to worry Gerda," Elsa said, giving a reassuring smile that melted to heart of her seamstress. "Rest assured, Hiccup has never tried to hurt me, and has been nothing but nice to me." Listening to Elsa's sincere answer, Gerda out a sigh of relief that she was holding in. With an extremely pleased look on her face, she gave a short curtsy.

"Have a pleasant day your majesty." Gerda said as she watched the queen leave the room. Outside in the hallway, Elsa let out a sigh that she didn't know she was holding in. Leaning against the door, she reflected on what she just said to Gerda. Elsa had told Gerda the truth but the sad thing was that it was the only thing she could say about her relationship with Hiccup. Today was the first time Hiccup was upset at her. Remembering back on it, remembering the face that he gave her, made Elsa's chest tighten that made it hard to breathe. Elsa didn't know why she was acting like this. Hiccup got upset because of a misunderstanding.

"_When humans and dragons work together, miracles can happen_."

"No Hiccup, when humans and dragons work together, war happens," Elsa mumbled to herself. Elsa wasn't going to pretend like she was an expert on love or dragons. But she did know people. Given the opportunity, people would try to monopolize the power of dragons, which would leads to conflict, which would lead to war. Elsa knew it all too well herself. "_In the thousand years that have gone by, nothing has changed, people have not changed Hiccup. It would be best for everyone if you all stayed locked up in your ice fortress. Arendelle doesn't need you or your dragons."_

* * *

Authors's End Notes:

Thank You to all my reviewers and Colonel Pepper for helping me with this chapter. I would like to give a special thanks to Dialga213 for his enthusiastic reviews. They are really motivating.


	7. Chapter 7: Rain

Author's Beginning Note: SSQH consists of two parts. The first part will run for about 14 chapters and mostly follow Elsa's pov as she struggles with the mysteries around Hiccup and her own feelings. The second part will be of Hiccup's past.

_What happened to make Hiccup live a thousand years? What does he want with Elsa? Why does he want someone he doesn't even know, or even know existed?_

These are all good questions, and won't fully be answered or understood until the end of the story. If I give some information out now, more questions will arise than be answered. If I give too much information out then the second part of the story will become less interesting as you would know what happens.

Hopefully everyone is in it for the long run and is enjoying the story so far.

* * *

Chapter 7: Rain

"Kristoff wait!" Anna cried out as she tried her best to keep up with him.

"We can't stop now. We have to find shelter before it's too late," Kristoff yelled back. Taking a brief look back to look at Anna, he held onto her hand tighter and quickened his pace.

Thirty minutes ago, they were sitting comfortably in their carriage on their way home. Anna was a little upset that the unending rain ruined her little vacation but she was still her usual chirpy self, but Kristoff was quiet and distant. Anna tried to figure out what was wrong, but Kristoff only responded by saying 'something didn't feel quite right' as he continued to stare out the window.

With heavy breaths, the couple continued to run through the mountain. Anna was a mess, her clothes completely wrinkled, her wet hair clung onto the side of her face in clumps, and water had seeped into her shoes. The princess could barely breathe as she tried to keep up with Kristoff and mud continued to build up her leg with each splash. Anna wanted to stop, but Kristoff had no intention of letting her. Kristoff kept raving about some sort of danger that they were in, but the strangest thing was the direction they were running in. Instead of running back to Arendelle, they were running back up the mountain.

After what felt like an eternity to Anna, the two finally stopped. Bending down and knees shaking, Anna looked like she was about to fall from exhaustion. Unlike his girlfriend, Kristoff had no time to rest. Darting his head from left to right, he was in search of something. "_Come on, come on, where is it? I know it's here somewhere." _Kristoff thought to himself, as he desperately racked his memories.

"Your Highness are you alright?"

Turning around, Anna could see that the rest of the convoy, a number of royal guardsmen acting as bodyguards, and a handful of handmaidens, had caught up to them. The guards seemed to be fine as they were used to this sort of exertion, but the women, who were in their now mud stained dresses, looked like like they were about to cry. At the appeal of the royal ice deliverer and the authoritative powers of the princess, the convoy was ordered to abandon the caravan and follow after them.

"We are not moving a single inch until you tell us what is going on Kristoff!" Anna yelled, finally fed up with Kristoff's craziness, turning around to face him and ready to unleash her fury. But he was nowhere to be seen.

"Anna over here!" Kristoff called out. Standing on top of a rock he waved at them to follow him, "Hurry! We don't have much time!"

"No Kristoff! We are not going anywhere until you tell us what is going on," Anna demanded.

"There's no time, if we don't hurry up we are all going die!" Kristoff yelled back, but his voice went unheard as the very ground the beneath them shook and grumbled. The grumble was even loud enough to overpower the deafening rainfall as it continued to grow louder. It was as if the mountain itself came alive.

* * *

Elsa never liked the rain. As a child Elsa couldn't play outside with Anna and if she stayed outside in the rain for too long she would get sick. Clothes that got wet would start to smell foul. Even though, technically, snow was just frozen rain, you couldn't do fun things with rain compared to snow. Like build snowmen!

With a sigh, Elsa looked out of the window of her palace to the dark clouds, the rumbling thunder and the rain droplets crashing loudly against the glass of her window. It had been raining for the past three days now with no end in sight. The last time it rained this heavily, her parent's ship capsized and they were drowned at sea. Elsa couldn't help but feel a sense of dread every time it rained.

"Come on Anna where are you?" Elsa said to no one in particular. Anna had left to go visit Kristoff and Grand Pabbie and his family of trolls for the week and was supposed to return hours ago.

"Your majesty?" the rough voice of her general said from behind. "Your dragon escort has arrived and are waiting for you."

"It's absolutely pouring outside and you just let my dragons stay outside in the rain?" Elsa said in complete shock and twirled around to face her general.

"Of course not!" The general said proudly as he went above the queen's expectations. But immediately deflated soon afterwards, "the blue dragon the you ride, the Nadder as you call it, kept tapping on the glass until we let them in. Damn smart beasts."

"Mmmhmm." Elsa said she gave a knowing smirk at the general.

"Since when were they your dragons? Did the Dragon King really give them to you?" The old, veteran soldier asked.

"Well, technically they are not my dragons, but they have been getting me safely to Hiccup and in the past three days, they have been sheltering me from the rain and wind with their wings. It's only fair that I do the same by lending my palace as shelter."

"And what about the Dragon King? It has been nearly three weeks since he arrived and nothing has really happened. Not that I am complaining." The moment those words came out of the general's mouth, he immediately regretted it. The queen had a dubious look on her face as she turned away from the general.

Elsa wasn't sure how to reply. In the past three weeks things have been perfect. Hiccup and his dragons have not interacted with Arendelle. In their Ice fortress they hid away from the world. And within the confines of the ice fortress, Hiccup slowly taught Elsa all he knew about dragons. The more she learned about them, the more she grew to love their uniqueness and intelligence. To them, trust was the most important thing. Something that Elsa found very hard to do with other humans. But with them she felt safe and comfortable around them. To Elsa, they were her friends and she couldn't be happier.

Hiccup, however, was a different story. The more she grew fond of Hiccup, the more she tried to distance herself away from him. Her promise to Anna popped up in her head from time to time but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Elsa was scared. Scared of what Hiccup could be, and scared of what Hiccup could do to her. A part of her still believed that Hiccup was evil and was simply hiding it for the right time to show his true colors. Hiccup claimed that his memories were still unclear. What if his memories returned and he remembered his Viking past? Would he still be the same person he was now, or would he turn into a savage?

Hiccup wasn't stupid, he could see Elsa actively avoid him and could feel the distance between them. Nonetheless, Hiccup was patient with her. But after three weeks he was starting to get more frustrated. Elsa knew it was going to blow up in her face soon enough if she doesn't do something about it soon. But until then.

"The cost outweighs the benefits General. Things should stay the way they are now," Elsa said.

"It's not like I am complaining or anything. I make no claims on being an expert on dragons. I will leave it to your best judgement," the General said with a shrug. "Are you going to leave with them now?"

"I don't want to leave until I know Anna is safe." Elsa replied, "They are three hours late what is taking them so long?"

"Their carriage probably just got stuck in the mud or something. There's no reason to panic just yet," Grahm reassured.

The loud sound of the heavy doors behind them opened. Turning around the two found a disheveled man. He was completely covered in mud and his drenched clothes dripped all over the queen's clean floor.

"Your Majesty!" the man said, completely stricken by panic.

"What's going on?" Elsa asked.

"I am part of the princess' convoy. Our caravans got stuck, so they sent me to notify you of the delay. But when I reached the base of the mountain I heard a loud sound. There was a landslide. Right where the convoy was!"

A sudden cold snap was felt from within the throne room.

"Your majesty?" The general said as he turned around. Elsa was in a dire state. The Queen had fallen to her knees, and ice starting to sprout from her body. Clutching her chest, Elsa could barely breath as her face started to get covered in frost. The walls and floor was suddenly covered in ice and outside the rain storm turned into a blizzard. Anna was the most important person in Elsa's life and wouldn't hesitate for a second if it meant saving her life. But he never expected such a violent response. Kneeling next to the queen, the general grabbed onto her hand. Seizing her attention, Elsa slowly looked up. He saw a terrified women in tears and none of the queen.

"It's going to be okay. I will go find the Princess and the convoy," the General said as he prepared to give out orders and take his leave.

"I can help. I am going with you too," Elsa managed to let out, her hand still clutching her chest. Having recovered from the initial shock, Elsa still held a faint glint of hope.

"I can't let you go your majesty. It's far too dangerous. If another landslide were to occur, no amount of ice and snow will be able to protect you."

Elsa never felt so helpless in her entire life. She didn't know what to do but at the same time she couldn't just do nothing. And yet her mind was completely blank. But then Hiccup's voice echoed inside her head.

"_When humans and dragons work together, miracles can happen_."

"Wait General Grahm. The dragons. I can ride on the dragons and be there to help my sister faster than any horse."

"Out of the question Elsa, I can't let you go. The winds are too strong and you have only been flying dragons for three weeks. If something were to happen to the both of you, there would be nobody left from the royal family to rule Arendelle.

"My sister needs me. I can't just stay here and do nothing."

"I can't let you take that risk, my Queen! I can't let you jeopardize the safety of Arendelle."

"I am going whether you like it or not. And there is nobody that can stop me." Walking past the General, Elsa headed to where the dragons were resting. Despite all of the general's reasoning as he followed closely behind her, Elsa wouldn't hear any of it.

"Please Elsa, just let me handle the situation," the general said as they reached the doors to where the dragons were.

"For the last time Grahm, I can't just stay here and do nothing. I have to save my sister," using her powers to blow open the doors, Elsa searched around the room but found nothing. The dragons were gone. In desperation Elsa ran out to the gardens. A burst of cold snow and wind came through the palace as Elsa opened the doors. The strong gust of wind keeping the general from following after her. Running out, Elsa called out to her dragons hoping to find them. But there was not a single dragon in sight. The only thing that could be seen was snow and the only thing that could be heard was the wailing winds. Without the dragons there was no way to reach Anna. Losing all hope, Elsa fell to her knees, barely able to breathe.

As Elsa cried, the snow storm grew stronger. The cold winds shrieked in her ears as if they were crying out. But then something felt different. Elsa could still feel the wind blowing against her but the cries of the snow storm had stopped. No, not silenced but muffled. A strong feeling of warmth flowed through her body. This familiar warmth, this familiar presence. Slowly looking up, Elsa found Hiccup standing in front of her with Toothless peering over his shoulder with his large curious eyes. Looking back down at her, Hiccup was unaffected by the cold winds blowing viciously against him.

"What are you doing here?"

"You called out to me," he said.

Seeing the calmness in his face and the steadiness of his voice, it all suddenly became clear to her. Elsa didn't need miracles. It wasn't humans and dragons that were going to save her sister, it was Hiccup. If there was anyone in the world capable of finding her sister and bringing her back safely, it was Hiccup.

Elsa knew the consequences of what she was about to do. She would be betraying her beliefs, her convictions and her vow to keep Hiccup and his dragons away from Arendelle. Nothing will be the same ever again. But none of that mattered. Elsa was willing to sacrifice anything to get her sister back. With tears still flowing in her eyes, Elsa wrapped her arms around Hiccup's neck and rested her partially frosted face against his chest. What she wanted, and what she believed none of that mattered anymore.

"Please save my sister Hiccup!" Elsa cried out.

"Everything is going to be okay, Elsa." Hiccup said as he wrapped his arms around her back and into his warm embrace. "Your sister is still alive and I will bring her back to you."

"Please let me go with you," Elsa begged.

"I'm sorry Elsa but it is far too dangerous for you, I can't be saving your sister if I am worrying about you." She wanted to go. The truth was that she didn't trust anyone but herself to save Anna. But as she looked up to his face, the absolute confidence that he exuded and the sheer determination in his eyes. Elsa couldn't help but trust Hiccup. Slowly the two stood up and separated. Taking a step back Elsa took one last good look of Hiccup and with a nod Hiccup mounted Toothless and took off.

With Hiccup gone, the voice of the storm returned as Elsa continued to watch Hiccup fly into the white abyss.

* * *

In the utter darkness, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of pain that was muffled by the heavy rainfall outside.

"You need to stop fidgeting, you're only making it worst."

"We can't stay here. We got lucky the last time but there is no telling when this cave might collapse."

"You can't do anything in your condition," Anna said "Have you found an exit yet?"

"No princess, there is only a small gap to the outside, so we don't have to worry about air. Unfortunately we are in no condition to get ourselves out and it will be a very long time before help can arrive," A Guardsman explained.

Anna never felt more helpless in her entire life. All of these people, friends, family, husbands and wives that might never return back to their loved ones. "_If Elsa was here instead of me. If it was Elsa, she would know what to do."_ She thought to herself.

Looking up Kristoff could see that Anna was going into one of her moods again. The way that her face tensed up and how all of the energy that she exuded disappeared. Anna idolized her older sister. To Anna, Elsa was perfect in every way. Whenever she felt helpless she would always wish she could be more like Elsa. As her boyfriend this was the part where he stepped in to cheer her up.

"Hey, Anna look at me. Everything's going to be okay. Don't be so down on yourself, nobody can help us at this point, not even your sister can."

"Easy for you to say. If it wasn't for you we would have all died. You started to yell at everyone to run to safety, raving on about it wasn't safe. We barely managed to shelter ourselves when the landslide occurred. How did you even know?"

"I don't really know myself, instincts maybe. I have lived on this mountain my entire life. When we were outside; I felt like something was wrong. I'm just glad everyone listened to me."

All of a sudden the entrance blocked by rocks exploded. Now open the loud sounds of rain came rushing in and dust covered smoked covered the cave. The smoke slowly dissipated to reveal a single man standing at the entrance. Nobody knew the identity of this man except Anna. But they all knew who he was when the creatures from behind appeared. Slowly dragons entered the cave one by one. It was the dragon king, and he did not look happy.

Fearing for their lives, the princess' hand maidens let out shriek. Prepared to fight to the death, the able bodied men unsheathed their swords causing the dragons to roar back in defense. The soldiers, as valiant as they may be, clumsily went into formation and was scared to move closer to the dragons. In this hopeless situation there was no chance to survive, the hands of the men shook as they wielded their swords.

Getting up Anna left the side of her beau to confront the Dragon King. Anna was practically shaking in her boots due to the cold but tried to make herself look presentable for fear the man in front of her would take advantage of her fright. He was breathing heavily for some reason. With his head down he clutched his face with one hand. His beast like eyes were red and they stared back at her in the gaps between his fingers. He was letting out a terrifying aura.

"My name is Anna, Princess of Arendelle," she introduced herself as they have never formally met before."

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," He said dismissively, not bothering to put any energy into his own introduction, "Elsa sent me to come rescue you."

"My sister sent you?" Anna said in surprise and letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank you for freeing us from this cave we were worried the cave might collapse. But we can't go anywhere. We have people injured and it would be too perilous for them to move in their condition."

"My dragons will fly everyone back to Arendelle." The moment he those words came out of his mouth, it was as if lightning had passed through him, as he clutched his head and let out a cry of pain.

"Trust your beasts, and fall to my death? I would rather take my chances here." A womanly voice from the back cried out.

"This might be our only chance to get out of this alive. We have a lot of people who were injured during the landslide and they need medical attention. My sister trusted Hiccup to send him to our aid. Don't you trust the queen?" Anna said. Turning around she could see just how terrified everyone was.

"I swore an oath to the queen. To give my life to her and for Arendelle. But what I don't trust is that Viking in front of us. How do we even know if he is telling the truth? How do we know he is not trying to capture the princess to leverage against Queen Elsa?" The captain said, with everyone else voicing their agreement.

"Have you forgotten who this man is? He is a Viking; a race of pure evil who only knows how to kill and pillage. The man who has threatened Arendelle, unless the Queen gave herself up. I would much rather take my chances here, then trust that monster to save us." A sergeant added.

The cave was quickly filled with arguing as Anna tried to convince everyone to trust the Dragon King.

"Kristoff and some of the others might not make it if they don't receive medical attention soon and the fastest way home would be by dragon." Anna retorted as she needed to set an example, to be a role model worthy of being the younger sister of Queen Elsa.

Anna didn't want to leave Kristoff's side but at the same time she couldn't abandon everyone who stayed behind. She needed to be strong enough to overcome their fears. But it was easier said than done. "_There has to be some way to convince," _Anna thought to herself as she racked her brain for the solution.

"Get on the dragons or I will make you get on them!" A loud voice boomed. Everyone in the cave recoiled back at the booming voice and was subsequently silenced in complete shock. It was a voice of pure power that demanded absolute obedience; a quality of a true leader. And yet, he looked like the exact opposite. Practically rasping for air, the Dragon King looked like he was about to collapse on the ground. Having fallen to his knees, Hiccup barely kept himself upright with one hand on the ground, his other hand clutching his face and groaning in pain in between breaths.

Scared out of their wits, the occupants of the cave gave the dragon king their full attention.

"Are you alright?" Anna asked, having regained her courage. Cautiously the princess started to walk closer to Hiccup, scared that he or one of the dragons might jump at her at any moment.

"I'll be fine," he said rasping between words. Gently brushing off Anna's help, Hiccup slowly brought himself up right. With a softer but still rough voice, Hiccup tried his best to calm everyone down and to give his reassurance, "I know you all find it hard to trust the dragons and myself. And all of you are scared and I understand that but it's not safe here. Queen Elsa has entrusted your safety to me and I am not leaving anyone behind."

Nervously the group turned to look at each other to see what their answer would be. Naturally they were all still apprehensive about trusting the dragon king. Not knowing what to do they were frozen in place. Waiting for the first person brave enough to take that first step forward so that they may follow. It was only when Anna returned to Kristoff's side and asked for help to lift him up to the dragons were they snapped out of limbo. Trusting the princess' judgment, the group followed Hiccup's orders. Not that they were given much of a choice in the matter.

* * *

The rain, the rain had finally stopped. No longer trapped, within the safe walls of the palace, Elsa immediately ran out to the gardens and had the soldiers set up torches to light up the cloudy night sky. Creating ice chairs, the queen, her guards, doctors, close friends and family all waited for the return of the Dragon King. The silence was almost unbearable and the sense of dread was painful. Nobody wanted to talk each other, and each family was off in their own little world. Even the children understood the atmosphere and the precarious situation as they clung closely to their parent.

Elsa tried her best to put the families at ease, despite her own fears. But they all refused to look at her, they weren't happy with the Queen's decision. "_They don't trust Hiccup and his dragons. Then they don't trust me." _Elsa thought as she subconsciously bit her lower lip. Her fists, resting on the armchair, clenched tightly together, and were shaking. Once again, despite all of her powers and abilities, Elsa was helpless to do anything. All of the suffering she had to go through because of powers, the loneliness she endured all her life and for what? To be able to do nothing once more? To rely on a complete stranger once more to save her sister? Elsa hated it. "_Couldn't protect my own kingdom, couldn't even protect my own sister."_

"Are you okay your majesty?" Master Helgen asked, clearly worried about his queen.

"Worried? I'm not worried at all. Who said that I was worried," Elsa said a little too quickly, as she was snapped out of her downward spiraling thoughts. Her voice betrayed her words and revealed her emotions.

"Everyone can feel the chill in the air. It's okay to be worried your royal highness." Master Helgen said as he smiled down at her, "I'm sure they will all arrive safely soon enough."

"You are probably the only one who believes that Master Helgen," The disappointment very apparent in her voice.

"Don't be too hard on them your majesty. People fear what they do not understand. It is only natural that they would lack faith in the Dragon King."

"Why do you trust the Dragon King then?" Elsa asked.

"I don't. I trust you," Master Helgen said simply. Hearing his answer, Elsa didn't know what to say. Her mind was trapped in a dark world. Brushing off her mentor's kinds words, Elsa continued on with the conversation.

"You know my father said the same thing to me once."

"Your father was a wise man."

A dragon's roar was heard, causing everyone to look up to the cloudy sky. Elsa recognized that roar instantly, it was Toothless. One by one, the dragons emerged from the clouds, descending in a spiraling fashion to slow down their descent towards the palace. The passengers got off the dragons and were immediately ambushed by their loved ones.

Walking through the crowd of families and dragons. Elsa frantically searched for Anna and Hiccup. Elsa could feel her heart beat as the anticipation was almost unbearable. It was only until Elsa reach the end of the line did she finally find her sister. Running over to her, Elsa saw a worried Anna kneeling over her partner who was sprawled on the ground unconscious.

"Are you alright Anna?" Elsa asked as she hugged her sister's torso from behind.

"I'm okay Elsa, but Kristoff he got hurt protecting me and it was my fault."

"We need to get him inside immediately," Master Helgen said from behind. Waving his arm, the doctor called for a stretcher. Holding each other in their arms the two sisters watched Kristoff being taken off to the palace.

"You should be next to him Anna," Elsa said looking down at her,"I need to speak to speak with Hiccup. Do you know where he is?"

Anna was lost in her own worried little world. She was scared that that Kristoff might not ever wake up, but hearing the dragon king's name snapped her back to reality.

"No! You can't. I won't allow it. Why didn't you tell me how scary he was?" Anna said fervently.

"Hiccup scary? What are you talking about Anna?" Elsa asked and gave her a confused look of disbelief that Hiccup could ever be scary. Seeing Anna give her a confused look as well, it was clear to Elsa that something happened in the mountains. But it was also clear that Anna was in no condition to tell her what happened. Today must have been a traumatic for Anna, and her sweetheart was in serious condition as well.

"It's fine Anna. You can tell me all about it later. Right now you should be with Kristoff,"

"But..."

"No buts Anna, I will talk to you soon enough."

"Okay."

Elsa waited until Anna entered the palace before she began her search for Hiccup. Spotting him and Toothless in the distance, Elsa started walking towards them.

The cheerful cries of everyone turned into quiet whispers as they noticed the queen approach Hiccup. This was the first time anyone had ever seen the Dragon King in the past three weeks. This was also the first time anyone has ever seen the Dragon King and Queen Elsa interact in public. The questions, which everyone has had for the past three weeks, would all be answered within this next few moments. Would he start hurting the queen out of anger or would they give each other a handshake like in a trade agreement? No one knew the answer.

Hiccup was standing off to the side of the gardens, away from everyone else. Whether if it was because everyone chose to distance themselves from him or Hiccup chose to be alone, Elsa wasn't sure. His head was down and was covered by a towel, apparently someone was brave enough to offer him a towel. This gave Elsa a passing moment of glee. As she got closer she could hear Hiccup quietly talking to his dragon, and Toothless grumbling back. Hiccup suddenly stood up straight, a sign that he was aware of Elsa's approach, and slowly turned around.

What had happened to Hiccup? Anna had described him as scary but in the past few weeks that she had known him, it was the last thing she would describe him. What had changed? Had it finally happened, had Hiccup shown his true colors? A wave of dread formed at the pit of her stomach.

But within that same moment, all of her fears went away as quickly as it appeared. Pulling the towel off his head, Hiccup gave Elsa a soft smile, his greens eyes sparkled brightly as ever.

"Hey, is everyone okay?" Hiccup asked tiredly. Elsa was overwhelmed by the feeling of relief. Left completely breathless, Elsa couldn't seem to form a single word. No words or sentences could describe how she was feeling at the moment.

Rushing forward to cover the remaining distance. Elsa took Hiccup by complete surprise as she wrapped her arms around his neck, not caring about how soaked his shirt was and unconcerned of the onlookers behind her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Elsa cried over and over again as she rested her head against her shoulder, and held onto Hiccup tighter and tighter. Elsa couldn't help the tears that flowed freely from her face as she felt Hiccup's arm wrap around her. Completely lost in their own little world, the two were completely unaware of their spectators as they held other each other in their arms.

"It's time for me to go," Hiccup said. Peeking up from his chest, Elsa gave him a meek nod. Taking a small step back, Elsa watched him effortlessly climb on top of Toothless. Ready for flight Toothless gave himself a good shake. Needing help to climb onto Toothless, Elsa reached her hand out for Hiccup to grab. Instead of grabbing her hand however, Hiccup merely gave her a thoughtful look.

"You should stay here tonight," Hiccup said

"What?" Elsa said, not sure why Hiccup wasn't grabbing her hand.

"Your sister still needs you," Leaning down from his dragon, Hiccup gave her a kiss on the cheek, "You should be by her side." Giving her one last smile Hiccup and Toothless took off along with the rest of the dragons following closely behind.

Watching them leave, Elsa knew that she couldn't live in denial anymore. Hiccup and his dragons were here to stay. Hiding them away from the world was simply impossible. Today had shown her how little she knew about Hiccup. She couldn't keep running from him. For the sake of understanding him better, she needed to overcome her own fears. There was a side to Hiccup that she needed to know about. Elsa had questions about him that needed to be answered. Who was he in the past? Why was he so angry up in the mountains? And despite smiling at her before leaving, why did he look so sad?

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Author's End Notes: Big thank you to ShortChannel4 and Colonel Pepper for their help on this chapter. I appreciate any reviews and constructive criticism as always.


	8. Chapter 8: Nightmare

Another chapter another step towards the end. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter 8: Nightmare

"I don't understand how you can be nervous Hiccup," Elsa said as she watched him fidget around in nervousness. Not used to the restricting clothes of royalty, Hiccup couldn't help but tug on his clothes. Elsa got closer to him and helped him adjust his clothes, "I'm the one doing all the work. Announcing our wedding, and practically declaring my love for you for everyone to see." Standing around in the queen's waiting room, Hiccup and Elsa were preparing to meet the council members and Anna.

"But you are the queen, they love you. To them you are infallible and if anything were to happen, it would be all my fault," Hiccup replied. Taking a deep breath with his chest puffed out, he let out a mocking voice, "How dare he, the villainous dragon king has tainted our precious queen, we must go out and seek his head!"

"Stop it, you are being ridiculous Hiccup. Nothing like that is going to happen." Elsa assured as she finished adjusting his cuffs. With a brief look, she smiled with satisfaction at how dashing Hiccup looked and leaned up to give Hiccup a kiss. Their bodies melded together as one as they wrapped their hands around each other. The two suddenly became lost in their own world as they continued their kiss, with Elsa mewling in pleasure. Their make out session came to an abrupt stop when, Elsa found herself pressed up against the wooden wall with a loud thump. Stopping, the two couldn't help but laugh.

"We should probably save it for the bedroom," Elsa suggested.

"You kissed me first," Hiccup defended, "you just can't seem to keep your hands to yourself little lady."

"I'll be sure to remember that tonight," Elsa said with a laugh as she started to walk away. Shaking his head, Hiccup chased after her and walked by her side. After opening the door, they entered the council room.

"Thank you all for coming, today I would like to announce my official engagement to Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." Elsa declared.

"I object," Anna cried out as she stood up from her chair. "This is not true love."

"I have found true love Anna," Elsa said. But before she could elaborate however, Hiccup stepped forward. With relief, she smiled and allowed him to defend himself, to defend their love.

"If only that that were true, if only there was someone who truly loved you Elsa," Hiccup said with a sinister laugh.

Confused, Elsa was about to ask him what he was talking about but then dragons started breaking in through the roof and windows. The dragons roared and started killing and burning everything in sight. Elsa was frozen on the spot and tears flowed down her cheeks trying to understand what was happening in front of her. Hiccup laughed maniacally as he started to kill the councilors on sight.

"Why are you doing this Hiccup? Please stop!" Elsa begged, completely unaware of the Nightmare that crept closer from behind with its claws raised high. By the time Elsa turned around it was already too late. With a loud clang General Grahm blocked the dragon's claw with his sword.

"Run Elsa, take the princess and save yourselves!" General Grahm yelled before he was consumed by fire.

"Grahm noooo!" Elsa cried, but she didn't have time to grieve. Elsa quickly grabbed Anna as she froze any dragon in a block of ice that she could see, and ran out of the room.

Running down the hallway their path was quickly blocked by dragons. Turning around they saw Hiccup wearing his distinct brown mask with glowing red eyes and riding on Toothless.

"Why are you doing this Hiccup, I love you!" Elsa cried.

"Because I can," Hiccup replied with a laugh, "As the very last Viking it is my duty to burn down the entire world, starting with Arendelle." With a charge the dragons started shooting fireballs at Elsa and Anna. Pulling up her arms, the snow queen created an ice barrier but the sheer force of the fire blast shattered the ice, and the force of impact blew them back against the wall.

On the floor now, the only thing she could do was look up at the masked Hiccup with his sword raised high, ready to deal the killing blow. Closing her eyes, Elsa lost the will to survive.

"_My love has betrayed me and my kingdom is going to burn down to the ground, is it better to just die now?_" Elsa thought. She closed her eyes ready to die but the sound of metal crashing against metal was heard. Looking up to see who savior was, Elsa saw Hiccup clashing swords against the masked Hiccup and her blue Nadder against Toothless.

"Don't give up yet Elsa! Grab your sister and get out of here!" Hiccup yelled as he pushed the masked Hiccup back.

"It is useless. She will die forever alone!" The masked Hiccup yelled back.

Listening to the real Hiccup's instructions Elsa grabbed Anna, and ran out to the balcony. Running to the edge, she created an ice slide with her powers that would get them safely to the ground.

"Anna, we can get down from here with this slide," She said as she tugged at Anna to go first. But Anna refused to move, her head was down with her bangs covering her face, and was unresponsive to her sister's tugging.

"This is all your fault, you are the one to blame for all of this," Anna said in a quiet whisper, "Arendelle would be better off without you!"

With a loud yell Anna pulled out a dagger from underneath her clothes and stabbed Elsa in the heart. And with both hands Anna pushed Elsa off the ledge. Bleeding and horrified, Elsa was helpless as she crashed onto the ground below.

OoOoO

With a gasp, Elsa woke up in cold sweat, her heart racing. After a few minutes, she was able to control her emotions. With a flop, she dropped back down to her pillow next to a sleeping Anna. Master Helgen said that Kristoff would make a full recovery. But nonetheless, the two had stayed up late last night to watch over Kristoff and so she wasn't worried about Anna waking up anytime soon. Brushing aside the hair that covered her face, she tried to make sense of her nightmare.

"_What have you done to me Hiccup_," She quietly asked rhetorically, "_Even if you were to give me an answer, how would I know that you were telling the truth_? _How can I tell that you are not just another Hans?_" Elsa thought as she remembered the exact words that evil Hiccup used were the exact same ones Hans said to Anna. Who was Hiccup? Was he the secretly evil Viking pretending to be all nice until the most crucial moment? Or was he the kind hearted savior that she had known him to be in the past three weeks?

But this wasn't where the parallels ended. Like Anna, Elsa feared she was too far gone. Her mind clouded by her feelings for Hiccup, making her rush into things, making her not see things the way they should be seen. But unlike her sister, Elsa could still see this problem and yet, she couldn't get away from it. She was simply far too attracted to Hiccup. No matter how much she tried to keep him at an arm's length, he always manages to find his way in and making her want him more. Deciding that she had reached a dead end with her thoughts, Elsa decided to go do something productive. Getting dressed Elsa gave a kiss on the top of Anna's head before leaving the room.

The entire kingdom was in an uproar. The events of last night spread like wildfire and by morning, everyone knew about it and was talking about the incident in the forest. People were running around the kingdom declaring how the Dragon King was good and how they knew it all along. While conspiracy theorists questioned just how exactly the landslide occurred and how he was able to find the convoy so quickly.

Elsa's office door had been knocking all day. Various ambassadors, dignitaries, and 'important people' had been trying to get the story directly from her. Naturally Elsa refused them all. It was simply none of their business to know what happened between her and Hiccup.

A series of knocks grabbed her attention from her paperwork.

"I said I wasn't to be disturbed guardsman," Elsa said perturbed.

"Was hoping you would make an exception for me," Councilor Eric Seranov said as he poked his head into the room. Not bothering to wait for an answer from the queen, the Councilor entered the room.

"I have already written a public statement about last night. I have nothing more to say on the matter," Elsa said.

"I'm not here to ask you what happened yesterday. I am here to ask you what happens next." Eric replied.

With a quiet sigh, she allowed him to stay. Eric Seranov from the House of Seranov was a very old and influential family that has been a part of Arendelle's politics since the kingdom's inception. Like Elsa, Eric Seranov had to assume the mantle of responsibility at a very early age when his parents were drowned at sea along with the king and queen. Marrying at an early age to secure the future of his household, the young councilor had been watching over Elsa ever since.

Councilor Eric had been rumored to be a sort of womanizer to his wife's vexation. But whenever Elsa was around him, he was only ever quite thoughtful and wise. Whether it was because he was smart enough not to try anything scandalous with the queen or the rumors were simply false, Elsa wasn't sure. "_Another man who is mysterious; great_," Elsa sarcastically though, "_Why are men always so complicated_?"

"He can't stay inside that ice fortress of his forever," Councilor Eric stated as he stood beside the window of Elsa's office overlooking the gardens.

"Of course he can, if he wants to stay in there forever, who is going to stop him?" Elsa asked.

"Your Majesty will," he replied.

"Me? Why would I do that?" Elsa asked with a confused look on her face.

"Because you are not going to have a choice," Eric said as he turned around to face her,"Initially when the dragons arrived, everyone was in a panic. All the surrounding kingdoms were rallying troops and were preparing for a dragon invasion. After nearly a week and a half, in which nothing has happened and then news that the Queen of Arendelle was spending her nights with the Dragon King in an ice fortress arrived. In response the kingdoms sent their ambassadors to Arendelle looking for answers.

"So? Send them home. It's not like it's the first time I have denied them what they wanted." Elsa said.

"In previous circumstances, yes, that would have been possible. No one had seen the Dragon King before, but the events of last night have tipped the iceberg. Now they 'really' want to see him.

"And what if my answer is still no?" She questioned back.

"I don't understand why you are being so difficult about this your majesty," Eric said with a frown on his face, " You knew that this was going to happen the moment you let him loose to save the princess did you not? You knew there would be no turning back."

"I still fail to see how this is any different. I have said no to numerous ambassadors, nobles, and princes before. And now, I am still saying no."

"But that was when they were all competing against each other. They share one goal now. They want to see the Dragon King and so they will combine their efforts. Arendelle will not sleep a wink until we give into their demands," Eric replied. Watching Elsa let out a sigh, it became very apparent to councilor Eric that the Queen was very much aware of their current situation. But it seemed that her majesty was very much dead set on fighting until the bitter end."If your majesty insists on resisting, then I shall endure hell with you without a single complaint. But please allow me the opportunity to say, 'I told you so' when you eventually give in." With a simple bow the your councillor left the room to leave Elsa alone with her thoughts.

The rest of Elsa's day went by in a flash and soon enough night time came. Checking the buckles of her saddle on the Nadder, Elsa prepared to depart for the ice fortress.

"Are you really going to go?" Anna asked.

"Of course Anna, Hiccup was generous enough to let me stay for the night so I could be with you to watch over Kristoff. It's now time for me to return to him." Elsa said as she turned around to face her sister.

"A few acts of kindness does not excuse him from what he is or what he has done Elsa."

"Which is why I am going. Our deal still stands and as long as I return to him, Arendelle will remain safe."

"Fine, then take this with you," Anna said as she lifted up a mysterious basket.

"What is it?" Taking the basket from Anna's hand Elsa opens up the front flap to find food.

"This is a gift that the head chef put together. Lorraine, his wife, is one of my handmaidens who was also with us on the mountain last night. Despite the method that he took to save us, no one can argue with the end result. This picnic basket is a thank you for saving his wife's life." Anna explained.

Careful not to damage the inner contents, Elsa used her ice powers to lift herself up to the Nadder. Sitting pretty on top of the dragon, the Nadder gave a short ruffle of its spike before standing at full height

"So how was it? Your first flight on a dragon?"

"Aww gee, I was kinda too busy worrying about my dying boyfriend, sorry." Anna said sarcastically, a bit perturbed by her question.

"Oh, sorry Anna," Elsa apologized for her inconsiderate question.

Having successfully tricked Elsa with her false anger, Anna couldn't help but let out a smile as she remembered what it was like up in the sky.

"I expect flying lessons soon Elsa," Anna said, as she watched Elsa take off.

Flying at a breakneck speed, Elsa soared through the clouds. Yesterday both General Grahm and Hiccup said that she wasn't a strong enough dragon rider. They were both correct. In these past three weeks, Elsa had merely been a passenger. No better than mere cargo as she was sent from one destination to the next. But all that was going to change, Elsa was finally confident enough in the air. Hiccup had made her a saddle so she was now safely tied to her dragon. No longer was she going to be a passenger. It was time for her to become a dragon rider. And most important of all, Elsa wanted to impress Anna with her flying prowess when the time came for her lessons.

Being so high up in the sky Elsa felt free, and the serenity helped her clear her mind to think. Flying around in zigzags Elsa took much longer to reach the ice fortress as she needed the extra time to think. It has been so long since she felt like skies gave her that same feeling of when she was first free and alone on the snowy mountains.

"_It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small, and the fears that once controlled can't get to me at all." _She thought, then smiled at the memory.

Task one, organize a welcome party for Hiccup. A part of her still wanted to keep Hiccup away. Whether it was to protect Hiccup from the world, or to protect the world from Hiccup, Elsa wasn't sure.

Task two, figure out what happened with Hiccup. Spending the night with Anna, she was told of everything that happened on the mountain. There must have been a reason why he was angry. Elsa was a bit nervous to ask Hiccup about it. Would the act of simply asking make him angry?

And yet, Elsa had this overwhelming desire to throw herself at Hiccup. Despite the nightmare that she had last night. The urge to kiss him, to be in his embrace, had not disappeared and she couldn't figure out why. "_I guess this is what happens when your __fiancée_ _saves your siste_r," Elsa thought to herself. Spotting the entrance to the ice fortress, Elsa directed her Nadder into a nose dive.

"_I am one with the wind and sky."_

With a spin Elsa's dragon landed inside the fortress, and she hopped off with practiced ease. Turning around, Elsa gave her thanks to her Nadder. Cooing and giving a scratch to the blue dragon as it gave a small squawk in delight.

"It's finally done," a voice said from behind.

"It's finally done?" Elsa asked, turning around as she hastily fixed her hair.

With a big smile, Hiccup gave nod, barely able to contain his excitement.

"Well, then let's go. You have kept me waiting long enough," Elsa said as she reached out her hand to grab onto his. Leading her through the caverns they come to an open area. So far Elsa only ever seen at most thirty dragons in the hangar. Where had Hiccup been hiding the rest of them? Compared to the rest of the fortress, which is rock and ice, Elsa stepped onto soft grass. Everywhere she looked was filled life with green, trees shrubs, and plants. Looking around Elsa could see the walls were still made of ice but looking up she could see the open night sky.

She was amazed by the sight of so much life in an ice fortress of all things. It was truly beautiful.

"I guess you could say this is a dragon sanctuary or habitat. It was badly damaged in a battle a long time ago," Hiccup explained to her. Running up the hill to get a better look, she spied the massive white dragon from the first day resting in a pool of water. Tiny terrible terrors flew around him and played on top of his tusk.

"He is called a Bewilderbeast," Hiccup told her as he walked up to her side, "His species is known to be king of all dragons, an alpha dragon.

"Bewilderbeast," Elsa repeated slowly taking in the strength and power that came with the word. The white dragon seemed to respond to her call as it started to rise up. With eyes that were as big as Elsa, the dragon watched her with a discerning and critical eye. With a blow of his icy breath, Elsa and Hiccup found themselves covered in snow. With a giggle, Elsa returned the gesture by cupping her hands in front of her mouth and blew snow at the Bewilderbeast until a layer of snow was on his head, face and tusks.

Laying out a patterned blanket, the couple sat together at the top of the hill. With his legs crossed and hands on his knees, Hiccup watched Elsa with sparkling eyes as she unveiled the contents of the mysterious basket.

"This is a gift for you from my head chef, as a thank you for saving all those people last night," Elsa explained.

"It was no trouble at all, but tell your head chef that I appreciate the gift anyways," Hiccup said.

"No trouble at all?" Elsa questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Because from what Anna told it was the exact opposite. Crying out in pain and threatening my people. What exactly happened last night Hiccup?" She questioned him.

Stiffening, Hiccup knew that the question would eventually. With a straight face, Hiccup gave her the a straight answer.

"As I started searching for your sister, I began to have flashes of my past. As the rain stormed down on me, I started to get these images of a man with a scar standing over me and he was surrounded by hundreds of roaring Vikings. With his axe held high and his foot on top of me, he laughed at my face." Hiccup described slowly to make sure Elsa was able to take it all in. Instinctively Elsa reached out and held his hands in comfort as he continued on with the story.

"I started to feel tremendous pain and I could hardly breathe. My body started to spasm all over and I could barely breathe. It was as if my body was remembering the past. By the time I found where everyone was trapped I was on the verge of collapsing and was too consumed by the pain to even think properly." He continued on with his side of the story.

"As I broke into the cave and looked up at the terrified faces of your people, an entirely new scene flashed before me. Everywhere I looked there was fire. Screams of terror and crying filled the air. And there was blood everywhere."

Listening to his recollection, the queen could practically feeling the pain herself. His pained voice struck her deeply to her very soul. Wrapping her hands around Hiccup's head, Elsa pulled him into her warm embrace. Closing eyes, Hiccup listened to the steady rhythm of Elsa's heart to comfort him.

"I wasn't thinking clearly and I wanted the pain to stop. I'm sorry I scared your sister and all those people." Hiccup mumbled with his eyes closed against her body.

"It's okay Hiccup, it wasn't your fault."

Pulling away from Elsa, Hiccup let out a loud exhale.

"But do you know what the worst thing about all of this is?" Hiccup asked rhetorically, "All of that trouble I had to go through, all of that pain and my memories still haven't returned."

Completely frustrated Hiccup fell onto his back and looked up at the now night sky.

"My memories feel closer than ever before. And yet, they won't return to me no matter how hard I try." Reaching out in front of him with his two hands, Hiccup grasped the empty air, "I feel as though they are right in front of me. So close that I could almost touch them but still out of my reach," Hiccup said.

"Toothless has been with you most of your life right. Why don't you ask him? Maybe it will jog your memories," Elsa asked.

"I've tried, but Toothless refuses to tell me anything. He says it will return only at the right time and not a moment sooner." Hiccup said shaking his head.

"It's okay Hiccup there is no hurry. I'm sure they will return soon enough," Elsa comforted as she offered him his food. Smiling Hiccup graciously accepted the food. In comfortable silence, the couple shared a nice late night dinner. They both had much to think about and were relaxed in each other's presence. When they finished eating, they cleaned up and laid down next to each other to watch the stars.

"You've been here for three weeks now Hiccup. I want to hold a welcoming party for you at my palace." Elsa said, having finally broken the silence.

"You don't have to go through all the trouble of throwing a party just for me." Hiccup replied nonchalantly.

"It's no trouble at all Hiccup. Besides a lot of people want to meet you."

"I don't know Elsa," Hiccup said, unsure of himself, "A thousand years is a really long time. The world is so different from what I once knew. I don't want to embarrass myself or you."

"You couldn't possibly be more embarrassing and disastrous them my coronation a few years back" Elsa said with a laugh. Amused at how timid Hiccup was being, Elsa turned to her side to get a better look at Hiccup. Wrapping her arms around his, she rested her chin on his shoulder, "There's no need to worry Hiccup, and I can teach what you need to know."

Despite Elsa's reassurance, Hiccup had his reservations about the idea of a party, still unsure of what his answer would be.

"The thought of meeting people scares me Elsa, humans are scary. I would much rather stay here for the rest of my life with you, Toothless and all the other dragons."

"The world is a scary place. And as the Dragon King, you worry about your subjects rightfully so, but cowering away from it is not the right answer. This isn't living Hiccup. Together we can secure a future for you and your dragons."

"Funny thing about that. You call me the Dragon King but technically it is Toothless who is the Dragon King. They go wherever he goes. He is my best friend and ever since we first met, we've always been together. He wanted to watch over me and protect me until my time on this Earth is complete. And when I die they will return to their world."

Silently Elsa listened and contemplated his words.

"I haven't seen that trouble maker all night. Where is Toothless anyways?"

"Toothless wanted us to have some alone time, told me to hurry it up as he was starting to get impatient." Hiccup said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh," Elsa said, regretting having asked the question as she turned away red in the face. Embarrassed the two fell into another bout of silence

"When is this welcome party for me you are planning?" Hiccup asked to draw back her attention.

"An exact date hasn't been decided yet," Elsa responded. Rubbing her legs together, Elsa squirmed as struggled with her inner turmoil. Hiccup's previous comments about Toothless whereabouts had lit a spark inside of her. The dirty thoughts from the previous night had returned.

Elsa had long moved past the 'conceal don't feel' mantra her father had taught her, but her fears had simply turned it into 'feel don't reveal' which was hardly any better. However, today was going to be different. Tonight Elsa wanted to take the next step.

"I think it's time for me to give you my thanks." Elsa said suddenly and resolutely as she lifted herself up with her elbows and looked down at him.

"For what?" He asked confused.

"For saving my sister." With the tips of her fingers, Elsa brushed her loose platinum blonde hair behind her ear, then leaned down and gave Hiccup a kiss. The brief kiss lasted only a second but it was enough.

Separating, Elsa stared into Hiccup's soft emerald eyes. His eyes were so clear that she could practically see herself in them. Leaning down once more Elsa gave Hiccup another kiss and then another. What had only meant to be a single kissed of gratitude turned into a flurry of kisses. With a soft moan of delight, Elsa wrapped her arms around his neck and grabbed onto the back tuffs of his hair. With each touch, Hiccup responded in kind with great fervor as he glided his hands across her back.

Completely forgetting any form of restraint, Elsa pulled her leg over and straddled herself on top of Hiccup. Greedily, she allowed herself to be consumed by Hiccup touch and passionate caresses. Her body continuously pushed up against him, begging to be touched more as her hands grabbed onto everything and anything that it could. Elsa fell into a state of euphoria as her mind could no longer distinguish anything outside of Hiccup. His scent put her in a drunken haze, the catch of his breath every time she touched him was melodic to her ears, his kisses were practically sucking the life out of her as it left her completely breathless and his every touch made her chest to tighten further and further.

With ragged breathes the two finally separated. Completely sure of her abilities, kissing prowess and by the sounds that Hiccup was making, Elsa looked down with a huge smirk. After that type of performance Elsa was sure what lay beneath her would be nothing more than a grinning and stupefied Hiccup. But what stared back at her was a mask with glowing red eyes.

"Aaaaaah!" Elsa screamed as she tried to stand up but fell backwards onto her butt.

"What's wrong?" Hiccup asked as he tried to get a closer to Elsa only to have her shuffle away from him completely scared out of her life. Stopping Hiccup watched her terror-stricken face. With a sigh, Hiccup took a step back.

"When are you going to tell me what's wrong" Hiccup said, frowning at Elsa, "I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong.

Completely panting and wide eyed Elsa didn't know how to respond, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. It was only when Elsa's chest stopped heaving did she finally speak.

"I am sorry Hiccup. I know this keeps happening but this is something I need to deal with on my own. I just need a little more time. So can you be a little bit more patient with me? Please Hiccup." Elsa begged.

"Alright, I will let it go for now. But I still wish you would tell me what's wrong."

"Sorry," Elsa apologized as she truly was remorseful about not being able to tell him.

"It's getting late I think it time we turn in for the night," Hiccup said, brushing off her heartfelt apology.

Nodding silently Elsa followed after Hiccup to their room and left the Dragon Sanctuary. The bed never felt more awkward for the two. They both had more things to say to each other, more feelings and emotions to convey but at the same time they both refused to look at each other. For the longest time the two simply laid there, alone with their thoughts. It wasn't until Elsa reached out her hand and grabbed Hiccup's hand did the couple finally fall asleep.

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Thank you Colonel Pepper for his help with this chapter as always. And thank you to all my reviewers and all future reviews. They really do help.


	9. Chapter 9: Quiet Nights pt 1

I saw Dragons: Race to the Edge a few days ago. Overall I enjoyed it but was disappointing that it lacked an over arching plot. I wanted a grand plot and to delve deeper into the history of archipelago and dragons. Avatar is an example of what I wanted. But my expectations might have been a bit too high seeing as how kung fu panda and riders of berk was like this as well.

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Chapter 9: Quiet Nights part 1

"I don't understand why you are doing this," Elsa said tiredly. In the early morning hours, when the sun has yet to light the deep caverns of ice, Elsa chased after Hiccup in the darkness. Running ahead of Hiccup and with her arms out wide, she tried to block Hiccup's way and gave him the scariest glare she could muster.

"What do you mean you don't understand? I just told you," Hiccup replied with an amused look telling Elsa how silly she was being right now. Completely ignoring the queen Hiccup walked around Elsa and continued on his way towards the dragon hangar.

"Well run it by me again," Elsa demanded as she chased after him.

If the world wants to see me then I am going to need some experience interacting with people." Hiccup explained, "Dragons are easy to understand. Anger, sadness, happiness, their emotions are always expressed outwardly. The signs for a human are much more subtle."

"Hiccup, humans are much more complicated than that. You can't expect to be able to understand people in two days. Besides, why would you have to take a trip around the country side? You can learn everything you need to know here." Elsa countered.

"I also want to get a glimpse of the world, through my own eyes. Obviously two days isn't going to be enough but it will be enough so that I don't look like a fool at the party. You would be surprised how primal humans can be."

"So I have to take care of the dragons while you are away?" Elsa asked.

"The dragons can take care of themselves. They know to run away or attack based on the situation. So if anything were to happen just worry about Arendelle, the dragons will be fine until I get back."

"If I am going to do my dragon show, the guests aren't going to run for the hills the moment they see one right?"

"If we tell them what is going to happen, then I don't think they will but let's just keep the dragons a certain distance away from them."

"In that case how about we do it at the palace gardens. I will only be needing the quarter edge of the gardens."

Entering the dragon hanger Elsa could see Toothless all packed with a much bigger saddle. Hopping around from his front feet to his back feet that rustled the bags, Toothless was excited and ready to fly.

"Are you sure you don't want to take more dragons?" Elsa asked as she watched Hiccup double check the buckles of the saddle.

"I will be fine, I promise," he reassured before hopping onto Toothless. "I will return in two days. I will see you in the morning and then we can have the welcome party the same night of when I get back,"

"You should drop by the palace first. Let me give you some gold for emergencies. A map in case you get lost. You should also bring a terrible terror with you as well in case you need to send me a message," Looking down Hiccup watched Elsa list one thing after another to find a good reason to keep him from leaving.

"I know this is sudden, but this is kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing,"

Seeing how stubborn Hiccup was being, Elsa finally relented.

"You two take care of each other now and don't get yourselves into any trouble."

"We'll be fine, stop acting like such a worried mother," he repeated, "you guys take care of each other as well." The dragons behind them gave their roar of agreement. Satisfied that Elsa would be well protected, Hiccup turned back his attention to the distressed queen.

"Can I get a goodbye kiss?"

"No, you don't deserve a kiss," Elsa stated coldly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Refusing to look at him she turned her head away expecting the infuriating man to magically disappear. Leaning down Hiccup gently held Elsa's chin and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Completely taken by surprise, Elsa recoiled away from Hiccup.

"I thought I made myself very clear that you weren't getting a kiss." Elsa yelled as she covered her kissed stained cheek and was in disbelief of Hiccup's blatant violation of her wishes.

"You did and you were very cute and stubborn about it," Hiccup said with a cheeky smile, "You deserve a kiss."

And with a wink that said "_I win_" to Elsa, the dynamic duo took off, leaving behind a gust of wind in their wake. Protecting her eyes from the wind with her arms Elsa marveled at the speed that they were flying. Already it seemed like there were so far away and were a mere black speck in the sky. She wondered if she could ever come close to that sort of speed with her Nadder.

Watching them disappear into the clouds with a heavy heart, the irony of what just happened did not fly past Elsa. A mere three weeks ago, Elsa wanted nothing more than for Hiccup to leave Arendelle. And now, not ten seconds after they were gone, she desperately wanted him to turn back. To turn around and fly straight back to her.

With a frustrated sigh of her inner turmoil, Elsa decided to press on. After a quick walk around the mountain to check up on the dragons and to find anything suspicious, Elsa took off on her own dragon to return to Arendelle. It was time for one final decisive council meeting.

OoOoO

Entering the council room Elsa immediately began with her opening.

"As you are all aware, we are preparing a welcome party for Dragon King Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. Suffice to say, after the party things will be very different. It will be the first step to integrate Hiccup into our world. At this critical juncture I believe that it is the best option," Elsa said taking a small pause to catch her breath and for the reveal. "But I would also like to say that Hiccup is currently on a two day sabbatical traveling across the countryside taking only a single dragon with him to study up on how to interact with people."

A collective audible sound of surprise is heard in the room.

"Are you suggesting an offensive is still an option my queen?" the general asked stiffly, "Because if you are there is no better time to attack then when their leader is gone."

"I will let you all decide for yourselves before we make a collective decision," the queen answered. Drawing out her ice powers, ice sparkled around her hand as she created perfect to scale ice models of the dragons she has seen. One by one she went over all the facts of each dragon recalling perfectly everything Hiccup taught her before finally giving her opinions.

Elsa first started with the four dragons that she knew the best. From the beautiful but deadly Nadder, the powerful Gronkle, the twin headed Zippleback and the vicious Monstrous Nightmare. And then she ended with the two most powerful dragons the Bewilderbeast and the dragon granted the title of 'King' of all dragons, the legendary Nightfury. Finished with her report, Elsa gave a final summation.

"The dragons are not mindless beasts. They are capable of understanding basic human language, and are capable of disobeying orderings as I have seen it happen before. They willingly choose to acknowledge Hiccup and Toothless as their leader, and they choose to follow my instruction as you all have seen before. They are extremely loyal to them and for good reason too. Before Hiccup and Toothless had left they were instructed to run if anything were to happen along with probably many other secrets that lie within that fortress. My powers are simply no match for them," Elsa concluded.

"Is this all the dragons?" the general commented. Looking around Elsa could see a few of them agreed as well.

"No this is not all of them, Hiccup had alluded to more dragons. These dragons are very dangerous and he has kept them away from me for my safety and for the safety of the other dragons as well. These dragons he said are much more prone to destruction and their loyalty cannot be gained. They can only be controlled through sheer force of will, he did not go into detail on what that meant and I did not want to push him for more information."

With all the information presented, the room's fell into quiet chit chat discussion to gauge their chances and look for a viable option. After a while it was quite clear what the least suicidal option was.

"I knew our odds against an army of dragons was bleak but this is a little absurd," General Grahm said with a conceding laugh.

"It looks like we don't have any choice but to go through with this welcome party," Councilor Eric said. Murmurs echoed the room as they all agreed.

"Are you people insane?" Councilor Mia yelled. Slamming her hands on the table and getting up from her chair she scanned the room and saw the surrendered faces of her cohorts.

"The dragons are in the sky, the sea and the ground below us! There is nowhere we can hide and nowhere we can run. The Dragon King even has invisible dragons for crying out loud! How do we even know if they aren't any dragons here right now? They could be watching us, waiting to kill us the moment the dragon king decides he doesn't like us."

"Well then maybe you should sit down and calm yourself before he decides to kill you," Reithan joked.

"How can you act so calm and joke around like this?" Mia asked. Looking at the younger councilor, Mia could feel her blood boil as she watched him clasp his hands together and gave her a smug smile.

"Because the Queen of Arendelle is not worried. So why should I?" he reasoned.

Stiffly turning her head the female councilor was surprised to see the find queen calmer than she has ever seen before. Sitting tall, her radiant blue were unwavered as she watched her councilors argue. But this wasn't because Elsa was the trying to be fearless and strong as her position demanded. Everyone single person in the room had worked with Elsa for years and knew what a fake Elsa looked like. The cooler draft in the air, the dulled eyes and the small twitches. The kind of twitches that could be in her leg in one moment and then in her shoulder in another. They were so small that you couldn't possibly notice them unless you were actively looking for them. These signs were all absent from the queen today.

"Hiccup is just a regular human being so it would help everyone if everyone saw him that way too." Elsa said.

"We are to call him Hiccup now your majesty?" Councilor Eric asked.

"Hiccup would prefer it that way. In addition it would help everyone to see him as a person instead of some spawn of Loki. So yes I would suggest you all start calling him Hiccup."

"It would help us see him as more human, if you tell us more about what your majesty and Hiccup have been doing in that blasted ice fortress every night," Councilor Mia said snidely.

"Queen Elsa has asked numerous times to keep her private life out of the court, please respect the Queen's wishes," Anna said, having spoken up for the first time since the meeting started.

"It's okay Anna, for this special case I will make an exception. We are dealing with the future of Arendelle, they have the right to know and I think it is important for you to know about my relationship with Hiccup," Elsa said as she gave them comforting smile.

"The truth is, I am no longer capable of making an unbiased opinion of him. I like him far too much. I like him more than any other man I have ever met before. The funny part is that we don't even do anything. He doesn't take me on romantic dragon flights, give me gifts or do anything romantic actually. We are just together," Elsa explained as she took a moment to find the correct words, "When he first declared his reason for coming here, it was unambiguous and made no sense but now it is very clear. His interests are solely of me. During our time together not once did he ask about Arendelle. All he seems to want is for me to be healthy and with him" Elsa said as she took a short moment for all of this to sink into them.

"Sounds to me like we won't be getting used to calling him Hiccup anytime soon. More like King Hiccup," Councilor Reithan joked with a nervous laugh.

"Rest assured I am not hopelessly enraptured with Hiccup, my duty is to the Kingdom of Arendelle. I will not hesitate to follow this council's wishes should they find the Dragon King not whom I thought he was." Elsa assured with an unwavering voice as she declared her commitment.

"Your courage and sense of duty is admirable, my queen," Councilor Eric said, "We will all pray that it will never come to that."

OoOoO

Knocking on the door, Elsa was quickly let into the infirmary. It had been a while since she last visited the infirmary and it brought back fond memories. It was one of the few places Elsa could be with Anna as Master Helgen educated them. But today Elsa was not visiting the infirmary for a lesson. Opening the door, Elsa finds Anna sitting on a stool next to a sleeping Kristoff. With the window cracked open, the gentle wind breezed against the occupants of the room and rustled the loose papers on the desk. With a knife in hand, Anna was peeling an apple before she noticed her sister.

"Elsa, nice to see you here," Anna greeted as she put down the knife down on the table.

"It's no trouble at all Anna," Elsa said as she gave her sister a smile, "How is Kristoff doing?"

"Despite what he may want me to believe, he is in a lot of pain. He kept refusing to take Master Helgen's medicine. I've finally managed to convince him to take it and now he is sleeping like a log."

"Will he be well enough to attend to the party in two days?" Elsa asked

"Probably not, he will be able to stand but he will hardly be able to dance. And Kristoff has never really been sociable in these kinds of parties."

"If he is well enough to stand then I don't think he would want to miss out on Hiccup's dragon show," Elsa said.

"A dragon show!?" Anna exclaimed. Starry eyed Anna could hardly contain her excitement, as she got up from her chair and danced around.

"Careful Anna you are going to knock something over," Elsa said as she tried to calm down her sister but she refused to listen as she kept spinning around on one leg and imagined what a dragon show would look like. But before she could hurt herself, Elsa pulled her sister down on the chair next to her."

"There was so many dragons, how many do you think we will get to see at the party." Anna said practically jumping up and down on her seat.

"I don't know,"

"Can we get dragon rides?"

"Absolutely not,"

"Okay fine, we can at least pet the dragon's right?"

"No,"

How about getting a picture painted with the dragons?

"Anna just because they are doing one show doesn't mean we can turn them into some sort of circus act."

"Booo, you are still no fun Elsa. I thought you've changed," Anna pouted

"What do you mean I've changed?" Elsa asked with a confused look.

"You seem to be less moody and less tense. Like in the council room everyone was stressed, arguing amongst ourselves and you just watched. Usually you are the one who is stressed out the most. You are always trying too hard, scared of losing control and too scared to show any weakness. But today everyone was arguing and you didn't even care. And you asked for everyone's help to judge Hiccup. You never ask for help!" Anna declared.

"I do ask for help!" Elsa quickly corrected, "Sometimes. But what about you? The one acting weird here is you. You've always been very vocal about wanting Hiccup to leave but you hardly said anything during the meeting," Elsa said.

"I've decided to hold my opinion. He did save my life after all. I will wait until after I talk to him." Anna spoke haughtily, as only a brilliant princess such as herself could come to such a logical decision.

"Of course Anna. Be sure to ask Hiccup all the questions that you have for him," Elsa said giggling at Anna's silliness.

"I do have one question for you. Why Hiccup? What makes him so different than everyone else?" Anna asked.

"Compared to all my past suitors, Hiccup is just so refreshing. There have been men who wanted the seat of power of Arendelle, or those who wanted me for my ice powers. Everyone calls me beautifully talented and strong. But Hiccup is different; for the first time there is a man who sees me for more than just my attractive traits and he treats me as one single human being. The Queen of Arendelle, The Snow Queen, Hiccup sees only the one person known as Elsa. Another important to remember is that it's not just Hiccup. Just like with Hiccup, I have built a bond with the dragons of the past month. The dragons are my friends and I don't want either of them to leave.

"Do you love him?" Anna asked, the usual cheerfulness that surrounded her little sister was absent as she went straight to the point.

"Maybe,"

"What kind of quack answer is that?" Anna said incredulously.

"A truthful answer," Turning around Elsa is surprised to see Anna angrily pouting at her.

"What do you expect me to say? That he is funny, handsome, and smart? Because he is all that but there is so much more to him than that.

"But so was every other guy," Anna added.

"And that is exactly my point. He is like every other guy but at the same time he is completely different. There is something that attracts me to him. I feel some sort of connection to him. It's hard to explain but something is drawing me towards him. Strangest of all is when I look at him. When I look into his eyes I feels like he is seeing something inside of me, something greater. I want to know what that is," Elsa explained.

"Fine I will let it go for now but don't think I have yielded so easily Elsa. I am totally prepared to say I told you so the moment things turn bad," Anna said as she pointed her finger at Elsa.

Taken by surprise of her sister's unexpected challenge, Elsa couldn't help but laugh at Anna's inexorable attempts to get the even with her older sister.

"Deal," getting up from her chair, Elsa left Anna alone to take care of Kristoff

OoOoO

Returning to the ice fortress, Elsa felt good about herself. Having just finished checking up on the dragon who were lazily lounging around with their masters gone, Elsa happily skipped through the fortress. Elsa relished the fact that it was just her and the dragons, to her it felt like it had been forever since she could be alone and just relax as she took a nice dip in the pool.

Surprisingly and best of all she didn't miss Hiccup at all. His warming smile, his easy going attitude. Elsa wasn't missing it at all.

Sleeping alone for the first time in a long while, Elsa was excited for her first calm hearted sleep. Hopped into bed and covering body with the bed sheets Elsa closed her eyes with smile. But unfortunately, even without Hiccup, nothing ever goes as expected.

An hour and half into her 'good night's sleep' Elsa turned to her side for the eighteenth time. No matter what she tried she couldn't fall asleep. Continuously fidgeted in restlessness, the Snow Queen racked her brain on why she couldn't fall asleep. Her body cried of fatigue and yet the young queen couldn't fall asleep. After exhausting all other possible reasons as to why she couldn't sleep for the third time. Elsa couldn't help but let out a frustrated groan and slammed her arms onto the bed.

"I do miss him!" Elsa cried at the top of her lungs. She couldn't, wouldn't, didn't want to believe it. She had only been sleeping with Hiccup for about a month and now she found herself unable sleep without him. Grabbing an extra pillow, Elsa used it as a body pillow and felt the comforting pressure pressed up against her body. But it wasn't the same. The pillow was a heat sucking vampire. The warmth that she felt with the heat that she provided to the pillow is nothing compared to the enveloping warmth that Hiccup provided. Despite trying her best with the poor substitute, Elsa couldn't sleep because she felt like something was still missing.

Opening her eyes, she spied the chest full of clothes that Gerda made for Hiccup. And then it finally hit her. It was the air. The crystal clear air was suffocating. Taking a slow painful breath, she could feel her throat and lungs crying out from the prickling pain.

"No! Absolutely not! Not in a million years!" She yelled to herself. Even if she had finally accepted her feelings, her pride would not allow it. She would rather kill herself then to submit to such a humiliation. At this very last point, Elsa put her foot down and put a line across the sand. Her final stronghold, her final stand. Her mind will not lose to her body this time!

Quietly Elsa crept up to the foreboding chest, as if she was scared of getting caught. Her head darted from left and right like a thief in the night. The chest squeaked as Elsa kneeled down to open it. The sound echoed through the frozen room and intensified her embarrassment but nonetheless she carried on. Rummaging through his clothes she found his night shirt, the brown shirt that she drooled on those many nights ago. From that night on Elsa vehemently refused to sleep on top of Hiccup ever again but it didn't stop Hiccup from coincidentally wearing it on most nights just to remind her of her embarrassment. Looking down at the shirt Elsa wanted nothing more than to rip it apart but instead she did the exact opposite. Like the true pervert that she secretly is, Elsa closed her eyes and pressed the shirt against her face to take a deep breath of Hiccup's scent. His earthly scent filled up inside her and warmed her body as she let out a satisfied sigh.

Standing up Elsa took the shirt and returned to bed. Sitting on the bed, she looks at the two items in her hands. The pillow in her left hand and Hiccup's shirt in her right.

"Well, I have nothing left to lose," Elsa thought. Taking the pillow, she stuffed it into his shirt. With her substitute Hiccup now complete, she pulled the cover over her body. Shamelessly once more Elsa rubbed her face against the clothed pillow and wrapped her arms around it. As Elsa exhaustion returned to her, she closed her eyes and wondered where Hiccup was right now.

"He promised that they wouldn't get into any trouble," Elsa reassured herself but her paranoid feelings refused to disappear, "I hope Hiccup and Toothless are safe."

OoOoO

In the darkness Hiccup examined the vibrant village with great interest. Fresh wooden houses were placed spaciously and have yet to see the wear and tear of time. The village was situated at the base of a mountain, a bank on a river and was surrounded by a lush forest. Whether it was the fresh bounties of the river and forests or the protection of the mountains, the village had it all. It was as if the village was blessed by Mother Nature herself.

Thanks to the bright light of the moon and stars, Hiccup was able to take a quick count of the number of buildings and estimated that the population of the village was no more than sixty. Looking up at the moon Hiccup was reminded of Elsa. It was only last night that they were together. With a sigh of exasperation, Hiccup couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle.

"Elsa is going to kill me when she finds out about this," Hiccup mused. Hands tied behind a wooden pole, Hiccup was helplessly sitting on the ground as he looked up to his captors. They have been arguing on what to do with him for over five minutes now.

"He barely looks like an adult, he can't be a spy,"

"But that's exactly what the enemy wants you to think."

"If he is a spy then what is he doing all the way out here?"

Shifting his gaze past his captors, Hiccup could see a shift in the darkness. Toothless was watching and was waiting to intervene if necessary.

"What are you doing in the middle of the night boy?" The man with a sword on his back asked. He was a large man with a clear air of confidence surrounding him. With striking blue eyes, chiseled jaw and light stubble, he was clearly the acting chief of the village.

"Can't a guy take a walk in the middle of the night in peace?" Hiccup asked innocently.

"This here village is on the outskirts of Arendelle and is surrounded by mountains. Nobody comes here unless they have a very specific reason. So the answer to your question is no, you can't. Walking around in the middle of the night with no traveling gear with you. You my friend are a very suspicious person," the chief replied.

"Ridiculous. Waking up half the village for this. Don't you sleep boy?" A woman asked. Brown hair messily tied back, the aggravated women with bags under her eyes was clearly not happy about waking up in the middle of the night

"I just needed some time to think," Hiccup replied apologetically.

"Well then you will have plenty of time to think until the the regular patrol arrives tomorrow morning. One of the night patrolmen joked.

"Terrible news!" A voice yelled out in the darkness.

Running down the hill to the village was an old man with a grey hair and a terror stricken face. Yelling at the top of his lungs and not caring who he woke up he shouted. Tripping over his own feet, the old man almost fell flat on his face but was quickly saved by the chief.

"Calm down father and tell us what happened," the village chief said but his orders went unheard as the elder shouted.

"Princess! Our precious Princess has gone missing!"

* * *

SSQH has reached 100 favorites and follows. Thank you for your continued support and reviews. I am always interested in listening to feedback and the road to 200 favorites begins.

Beta Reader:Colonel Pepper


	10. Chapter 10: Quiet Nights pt 2

I've been struck by the Fanfiction Curse v2! My phone broke which is where I do the majority of my writing, in bed and in the middle of the night. A number of reviewers have asked if Drago will be making an appearance. The answer to that question is I don't know as I don't want my story to conflict with HOTD 3.

To Noctus Fury: Thank you for your question and you're right. I have addressed your question a little bit in this chapter as luckily it wasn't anything story shattering.

To Michaelagaloe: Nope, no royal bloodlines. Although it would be technically okay between Elsa and Hiccup since it has been a thousand years. To me it would still feel like incest .

* * *

Chapter 10: Quiet Nights part 2

Hiccup sprinted through the forest at a breakneck pace, leaving behind the sound of rustling leaves. With great agility he weaved through the mountain's dense bushes, rocks and overgrown trees. His legs and lungs felt like they were on fire but he couldn't stop. Chasing closely behind him were wolves, hunting their prey as if they hadn't eaten in days. It also didn't help that he was carrying an extra burden. Tucked beneath Hiccup's right arm was a goat. Wide eyed, the young goat strained her head upwards to Hiccup, begging him to run faster.

"I'm running as fast as I can," Hiccup snapped, "you're the who got us into this mess." Guilt ridden, the goat fell silent as Hiccup continued to run up the mountain.

"Toothless I could really use your help right about now!" Hiccup yelled as he continued to run but Toothless was nowhere to be seen. Hiccup managed to get a quick look up at the sky before ducking underneath a wolf that had leapt up to bite off his head. Spinning around Hiccup jumped over the second wolf, keeping the wolf from ripping his leg off.

Emerging from the bushes and into a clearing, Hiccup found himself facing a cliff side with nowhere to go but back. Turning around Hiccup sees the wolves emerging from the trees. Five wolves was too much for Hiccup to fight off and he was outmatched by the sheer speed of the wolves. Without any trees or rocks, maneuvering around them wasn't an option either. With nowhere to run, Hiccup was forced to slowly back towards the cliff edge. In a lowered stance the wolves crept in a wide arc towards Hiccup and the goat. Unfortunately for Hiccup, the wolves were less hasty and much more cautious now. One wrong move and they could be the ones who fall from the cliff.

A black shadow suddenly appeared above them and landed between the two group with a loud thump. Rising to his full height and with his wings out wide, Toothless let out a massive roar. Shooting a plasma blast towards them, wasting no time the wolves scurried off like a pack of wild dogs.

Saved by Toothless, Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. Completely out of breath Hiccup fell backwards and rested on the rock hard ground. Gasping for air and his chest heaving, Hiccup felt like he was going to pass out. After a few minutes Hiccup of resting, he could finally direct his anger to the animal that almost got him killed.

"Seriously, who names their pet goat princess? That is just plain misleading," Hiccup complained.

The goat gave a bored expression to Hiccup's as she continued to lazily graze at the few patches of grass that managed to get through the rock and acted oblivious to the fact that she was almost killed. Realizing that there was no point in yelling at a goat,Hiccup got himself off the ground and sat himself upright. High up on the mountains he stared out to the wondrous view. He could see the village that he was imprisoned not too long ago.

"The world sure has changed a lot since my time. Did I make the right choice or did it not matter at all? What would the world look like if I hadn't interfered?" Hiccup wondered

Toothless bumped Hiccup's side, interrupting his thoughts and gave him a worried look.

"I'm sorry I ran out on you like that last night Toothless," Hiccup said as he gave him a scratch, "Last night was unexpected and a little overwhelming. It all came back so fast." Standing up Hiccup stretched his tightened back as he walked closer to towards ledge of the mountain to stare out once more. The view was truly amazing but sadly Hiccup was too far to get a glimpse of Arendelle.

Relenting to the fact that his questions may never be answered, Hiccup let out a tired yawn. The exhaustion of not sleeping last night returned to him in a huge wave. Leaving the cliffside to find a place to sleep, there was still one last lingering question Hiccup had.

"Mom, Dad, Fishlegs, Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout, Astrid. I wonder what you would think of me if you saw me now?"

OoOoO

"You look a little tired Elsa," Anna asked as they walked down the empty halls of the palace. In the morning, the sun has yet to reach the high windows of the palace. But slowly the sunlight filtered in through the windows creating beautiful cascading shadows for the Queen and princess to enjoy.

"I'm alright Anna, I just didn't get enough sleep last night. Nothing to worry about."

"Why not? Did something happen last night?"Anna asked as she created a shadow dog on the wall with her hands.

"Nothing happened last night, Elsa said a little too hastily.

"Are you sure? Because you seem to be a little agitated. Is there something you're not telling me?" Anna asked. Moving her shadow dog forward, Anna opened the the shadow's mouth and pretended to bite Elsa's head off

"I am perfectly fine Anna and if you keep asking me i might think that something weird is going with you," Elsa said. Annoyed by the sunlight that was rhythmically being flashed at her face by Anna, Elsa twirled her finger and blocked the windows with ice, consuming the hallway in complete darkness and ending Anna's fun. Surprised, Anna turned around to angrily face her sister but Elsa had already began to walk away.

You know who actually is the weirdest person?" Anna asked as ran to catch up to her sister. "It's Hiccup. He is like the worst villain in the history of like ever! What type villain captures an entire kingdom and then does literally nothing afterwards. I didn't mention this during the meeting yesterday because it's not really important but I just don't get it.

"That is because Hiccup is not a villain. He is nothing like Hans," Elsa answered.

"You sure are defending him a lot. I wondered how the dragon king managed to charm my sister?

"Hiccup hasn't charmed me. I have know idea what you are talking about," Elsa denied.

Sensing that her sister was lying Anna moved forward and blocked her sister's path. With both hands Anna grabbed her sister's shoulder to hold her position as she carefully observed her sister. Under the immense pressure of Anna, Elsa couldn't help but break eye contact. Having won her first starring contest against her sister in forever, Anna's face brightened up immediately. The puzzle pieces came together in her mind and she smiled with excitement.

"My my, looks like the tables have finally turned. My older sister who is always making fun of me. But now look who's talking. It seems like the tendency to quickly fall in love and rush relationships is genetic," Anna laughed as she started to skip away.

"My situation is nothing like yours!" Elsa said indignantly and chased after her.

"How many times?" Anna asked suddenly as she twirled around to face her sister.

"What are you talking about?"

"How many times?" Anna asked again, putting more power into her word.

"Two times," Elsa responded sheepishly as she remembered their most heated and memorable times. The first surprise kiss Hiccup gave her during the morning of her accident and her first time giving a kiss as a thank you for saving her sister.

"And a couple of others," Elsa sheepishly added.

"Ha! I knew it. You've only known him for like what? A month? And now you two are sucking each others faces off."

"You tried to get married after meeting a man for half a day. Even with Kristoff you kissed him after a day of knowing him." Elsa countered.

"We've already established how terrible I am. But this isn't about me, this is about you. How you are always teasing me, my foolish little sister but now you can't anymore! Now you're are no better than me." Anna said laughing.

"I promised you that we would get rid of him. but now we are doing the exact opposite. You are not mad at me for breaking my promise?" Elsa asked.

"I just want you to be happy sis," Anna responded, "that's all I ever wanted. I will just have to wait until I talk with the Dragon King myself. He saved my life and Kristoff's as well. I should at least give him the benefit of doubt.

Opening the palace door the queen and princess exited outside to the upper gardens.

"Do you really think he isn't evil?" Anna asked

"A part of me does believe that he is evil and all of this is some sorted of twisted game to him. For as long as he has been here for, I still don't know anything about him. I know nothing of his past and that is what scares me the most. I don't know if he has truly lost his memories or if he is hiding something. My distrust for him has me distancing myself from him and has stopped our relationship from growing any further." Elsa said.

"And of course you haven't told Hiccup about any of this. The problem is the same as always with you. You're shutting him out. Just like how you used to shut me out. How do you expect to grow your relationship when you won't tell Hiccup about your feelings either?"

"I know Anna, and I finally have my resolve. No more putting it off and running away. Tomorrow night I will tell him exactly how I feel. Tomorrow night the truth will finally come out.

"And I will be right here to help you or make fun of you," Anna said, smiling at the idea. The two sisters laughed as they arrived at their destination. "So what are we doing out here anyways?"

"We are here to set up the party." Elsa answered. Using her imagination Elsa tried her best to imagine what type of show Hiccup was going to put up. He said that he needed about the a quarter edge of the gardens. The garden was big so you could easily fit at least fifty dragons. Using her powers Elsa created a small wall of ice to separate the garden.

"What the heck are you doing!?" Anna asked. Her sudden loud outburst, startling Elsa.

"Hiccup is going to put on a dragon show as an introduction to the party. I am separating the two areas so nobody gets hurt," she explained.

"You are doing it all wrong!" Anna said with a huff and started to move in front her sister. This is one of the few times where Anna took charge instead of her older sister, Apparently in Anna's exact wording, "Elsa isn't much of a party girl." As such Elsa has no idea how the throw types of parties that involved large social gatherings. And in these times Anna would take charge in order to avoid embarrassment.

"No offense but your ice wall is absolutely hideous. Your copying ability is perfect but creativity is not something you do not have sister. And don't even try to tell me about you ice palace up on the mountains because you copied that too. Just because I was little doesn't mean I don't recognize it from our children's book mother used to read to us," Anna said turning around to face her sister. Elsa had finger up and her mouth open and was about to defend herself before she was completely knocked down by Anna.

"You need to make a platform Elsa. That way people in the back can see the dragon show as well," Anna instructed, "Obviously we are going with a dragon theme. Maybe we can have ice sculptures of other dragons from different cultures, it would be a great way to welcome all the foreigners we have coming in for this. And in the front and center we could have Hiccup's ice sculpture dragons as contrast for them all.

"I see what you mean." Elsa nodded in understanding. Erasing her previous work, Elsa created Anna's suggestion. Unfortunately her new work was marginally better than the one before. For all intents and purposes, Elsa created a platform. But a more precise description would be a glorified giant table with hundred of legs as support.

"You're not helping Elsaaa," Anna whined, clearly exasperated by her attempt at a platform, "Leave and let me take care of this. I will draw things out for you to create later on."

With her sister clearly not wanting her, Elsa returned to her office to get some paperwork done without fear of Anna's constant chatter. Unfortunately luck was not on her side. A guard came into her office, to tell her that Gerda was demanding to see her. With a sigh Elsa, let the older women in.

"I want to see him," Gerda demanded simply as she charged past the guard and closed the door behind her.

"Who?" the queen asked not bothering to look up from her paper as she continued to scratch the paper with her pen.

"Your husband."

"I don't have a 'husband'," Elsa replied, not falling for her usual games. "And if you are referring to Hiccup. You will see him at the welcome party tomorrow night."

"I need to see him before the party your majesty. I have an idea for matching dresses for the two of you for the party and they need to be absolutely perfect. I already know your body probably better than yourself but the dragon king is a different story. Your ice sculptures are good but it is nothing compared to the original. The way he carries himself, his attitude, the way he talks and moves. All of this need to blend together with his clothes and complement the wearer which a model does not capture." Elsa was about to interject but Gerda wasn't quite done with appeal yet.

"And have you prepared him for ballroom and foreign etiquette? Is he going to offend the first diplomats he meets because he didn't know better? Does he knows how to use a knife and fork or are you just going to let him eat with his hand like an uncivilized neanderthal? I very much doubt you have taught him everything he needs to know. The party is tomorrow and you are far too busy to be teach him.

Gerda was right but Hiccup wasn't exactly home at the moment. Elsa needed to be careful with her wording. Besides Anna and the council members, Elsa didn't want anyone else to know Hiccup wasn't home at the moment. The Queen trusted the seamstress but one can never be too careful.

"As you have stated, I am too busy to teach him. However, I can't guarantee your safety if I leave you alone with him. Hiccup and I get along just fine because he likes me, but I'm not sure the same can be said for you Gerda," Elsa lied, trying to sow some fear into her to get her to back away from the idea. "I will talk to him tonight to make sure everything will be okay and I will send you to him tomorrow morning."

"Half a day is hardly enough to teach him everything he need to know." Gerda complained, "I am your unofficial your image manager" As such I will not have that man embarrass you in any way. I won't allow rumors that the queen is married to a complete fool."

"Hiccup is anything but a fool," Elsa defended, remembering the entire reason he left in the first place was so he didn't embarrass the two of them. "Half a day will be be enough for him to survive the night."

OoOoO

As the sun began to set down, the villagers gathered to the centre to share a meal and drink after a hard day's work. With a tired sigh, the chief of the village unslung the sword off his back and sat down on a bench.

"By the looks of your face I take it that you couldn't find the boy?" His wife asked him

"There's no sign of him anywhere," he replied

"What about princess?" His father asked.

"Sorry I couldn't find your pet goat either father," the chief said.

"Poor princess! All alone out there. How will she survive without," the elder cried.

"_Ring ring baaaah_,"

Emerging from the golden rays of the sunset was their runaway captive and the elder's pet goat

"Princess!" Running towards each other, the old man and his pet goat were reunited. With tearful eyes the old man wrapped his arms around the goat's neck and gave her a hug.

"Why did you come back?" the chief asked Hiccup. "After you had gone missing and left behind nothing but torn ropes I had expected to never see you again.

"As I said before I'm not looking for trouble. I'm just here to do a little exploring of the wild. I found princess in the mountains and I thought I should bring her back to your father," Hiccup responded.

Before the chief to interrogate Hiccup once more his wife stepped in and took charge.

"Enough talk, it is time for dinner and this child will be joining us. The boy is harmless. I will not have this child return home and besmirch our village's reputation by having him say we are inhospitable.

Sitting down at the head of the table with the chief, the food was laid and Hiccup thanked the chief and his wife for the food.

"So who is it that you're running away from?" the chief asked.

"Excuse me?" Hiccup asked, as he looked up from his dinner.

"If you are not here to make trouble than are you running away from destiny? Want something more exciting than taking over the family farm? Or is it that running away from a loan shark? A murderer? Or is it a women you are running away from?," the chief clarified, grinning at that last thought.

"I'm not running away from anything," Hiccup laughed nervously, We're just taking a little break that's all"

"So it is a woman. Did you get into a fight with your girlfriend or something?" The chief asked

"It wasn't really an argument but more of frustration," Hiccup explained, "she is hiding something from me. It is bothering her greatly but she doesn't want to tell me. I want to help her but she won't let me in. But then again, I haven't exactly been able to be open myself up to her either.

"Son, As a man who is married let me give you some advice on relationships," the chief said.

"You are getting relationship advice from my husband? That is the worst idea ever" the chief's wife interjected.

"Leave us alone women, fumbling our way into a woman's heart is the path to true manhood, the chief argued.

"Rubbish, if I hadn't made the first move you would still watching me from a distance. Too scared to make the first move," the women countered. Turning away from her disillusioned husband, she faced Hiccup with a stern look and a sharp finger pointed towards him. "I am going to make this simple and tell you what you need to do to earn a woman's affection and get her to open up to you."

"Thank you, but if it is alright with the both of you. I think I will be okay with this. I already have the solution to the problem," Hiccup said with both arms raised to stop the married couple from fighting.

The couple looked at each other with confused looks before looking back at Hiccup and shrugged.

"If you say so," the chief responded and returned back to his meal. By the time Hiccup was done eating and talking with the chief, it was already night time.

"You are leaving now in the middle of night? Are you sure you don't want to stay here and leave in the morning?" The chief asked as he guided Hiccup out of the village.

"It's time for me to leave. Besides I do my best traveling during the night," Hiccup said with a cheeky grin. The village chief wanted to tell him how dangerous it was to be travelling at night but before he could, Hiccup had already started to run off on his own.

Watching him leave chief couldn't help but feel like someone important had just left his village. With a shrug the chief began to walk home.

Sprinting down the beaten trail with the moonlight to guide him, Hiccup's heavy footsteps echoed through the night. Hiccup never felt lighter as he was practically leaping with each step. An ominous shadow flew over him before it began to circle back towards him. Flying lazily beside him, Toothless gave Hiccup a curious look as he wondered why he was running when there was a perfectly good dragon right next to him.

"Good morning sleepyhead. Are you ready for a night of flying?"

Toothless roared in agreement. Grabbing the reins of the saddle, Hiccup hopped onto Toothless' back. Tucking his body closer to Toothless, the two climbed the night sky until they were higher than the clouds.

"Common Toothless we got a party to get to!" Hiccup said, urging Toothless to fly faster.

Flying above the cloud in the quiet night sky never felt better. The burden that he shouldered long ago was gone. And with his memories having returned, he finally felt whole again. The sense of ease was a feeling that he hadn't felt in over a thousand years.

Hiccup was excited to see Elsa again. There was so much to tell, so many things to ask her. And it was all happening tomorrow.

"Tomorrow night I will tell her about everything. Tomorrow night the truth will finally come out."

* * *

Authors end notes: With this chapter we set up for the climax of the first half the story. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out in a timely matter. I am currently flying solo as Colonel Pepper is busy with his own stuff. As always, Thank you to all my reviewers.


	11. Chapter 11: Opposites Meet

School makes it hard for me to release chapters on schedule. But that is pretty much the problem of every author.

Hiccelsa: I've have chosen to simply have Hiccup's leg restored through magic which I will explain later on. Some people would argue that his missing leg is a defining trait of Hiccup and I would agree. But the the problem is of originality. Much better authors than I have devoted entire chapters to just Hiccup leg. If I make an attempt it would be just wasted effort on my part and a waste of words for the readers.

V0ttak: Hiccup is a not a weredragon but he was hibernating with the other dragons.

* * *

Chapter 11: TBD

Despite her initial bravado and fearlessness, Gerda was extremely nervous to meet the Dragon King. Hands slightly shaking, Gerda carried the tools of her trade in a suitcase through the icy mountain. Finally exiting the cavern to a large opening, the next thing she saw nearly gave her a heart attack.

An entire swarm of dragons was surrounding the Dragon King. The dragons hung from the walls, the floor and ceiling. They were closely watching the Dragon King as he animatedly instructed them, but she couldn't hear what he was saying with all the noise the dragons were making. Once Gerda had stepped in, they all turned their heads and gave their attention to the seamstress. The stare of a thousand eyes bearing down on her nearly gave her a heart attack. Gerda could feel her knees shaking, and her heart beating thunderously. The dragons jumped off the ceiling and walls and started to fly around the room. Completely terrified Gerda covered her eyes with her hands but it wasn't enough. She could still hear the sounds of a thousand wings flapping, combined with the deafening sounds of their roars. And then it was silent.

Taking a peek through her fingers, the dragons were all gone. The room was completely empty except for the two figures standing in the center of the room. Standing with his hands behind his back, the Dragon King watched Gerda with a curious gaze. Guarding him was a single ominous looking black dragon. The catlike eyes of the dragon watched her carefully. The pair did not bother to approach Gerda but merely watched her.

"_He wants me to approach him_," Gerda thought. "_Good, at least he has some idea on how to act appropriately_." Hesitantly the seamstress slowly approached the Dragon King. Stopping a few feet away, Gerda gave a small curtsy.

"Greetings Dragon King," Gerda said. Looking up she saw the welcoming smile of the Dragon King and all of her fears were swept away.

* * *

"I'm surprised Elsa. I thought the first thing you would do this morning was go see Hiccup."

"I don't have the time Anna. There's still a lot that needs doing before the party. And Hiccup doesn't have the time either. He has a lot of work to do with Gerda," Elsa replied. Sitting side by side the two sisters reviewed the guest list. Checking each other's work, they figured out who was present, who was absent, and anything that looked suspicious. The entire palace was scrambling. The maids were preparing last minute guests that have recently arrived, the cooks were preparing a feast and security had been increased with more patrol guards in the city and in the palace.

"I don't understand Elsa, you could have waited for Hiccup last night and came back home in the early morning. But instead you returned from the ice fortress and forced your way into my bed in the middle of the night."

"Hiccup hadn't returned yet and I didn't want to sleep alone," Elsa said pitifully, embarrassed to admit how much she missed Hiccup.

"And now you have this lost puppy look on your face because you want to see him so badly," Anna teased.

"You get that same look every time Kristoff leaves for a week," Elsa retorted.

"And now we're even," Anna replied.

There was a knock at the door

"You may enter," Elsa answered.

A guard came in and gave the queen and princess a smart salute.

"Your majesty, General Grahm is ready to give his report on security. The general would like to know when her majesty will see him."

"I will go see him now," Elsa replied. Getting up from her chair, Elsa briefly turned to her sister. "You can take care of things here right Anna?"

"No problem Elsa, I will see you in a bit and then we can get ready for the party together." Anna said.

With a nod Elsa left with the guard.

* * *

"Please stop pinching me madam Gerda," Hiccup said after flinching from a burst of pain. Separating, Hiccup nursed his shoulder.

"You are slowing down Chief Hiccup, you need to keep up that pace," Gerda reprimanded.

"Sorry I didn't get much sleep last night," Hiccup said.

"There is nothing to fear Chief Hiccup. You are learning very quickly. Let's start from the top once more." Gerda said. With her arms out wide and standing tall, Gerda waited to dance once more.

Moving in closer, Hiccup gently placed his left arm around Gerda's waist and clasped her left hand with his right.

"I wish you would drop the honorific madam Gerda," Hiccup said.

"Absolutely not Chief Hiccup, our positions have been established and must be maintained at all time. This is especially true for the party tonight so it is best that you starts practicing now," Gerda said. As they danced Gerda looked up to Hiccup's handsome features while Hiccup simply smiled back at her. Gerda was by no means ugly but she paled in comparison to Elsa. Despite not being Elsa, Hiccup gave her his undivided attention. Gerda was the master of secrecy, discerning the truth out of others was her game and yet, staring into his precious emerald eyes, it felt like her soul was being laid out bare. His undivided attention overwhelmed Gerda, forcing her to pull away from his gaze, blushing, in fear of being trapped forever. Left slightly out of breath, Gerda was in disbelief.

The Dragon King was simply too good to be true. It had only taken him five hours to memorize the backgrounds of over forty guests. Hiccup claimed that geography and people were some of his strong suits but it was still impressive.

He had an aura of pure confidence that was not born out of arrogance but out of sheer confidence in his own ability. The confidence to come out on top no matter the situation meant that he did not need pitiful tactics such as fear and control. Instead it allowed for his character and pride to be flexible. It allowed for a lowly seamstress such as herself to be able to tease Hiccup and for him to do nothing but laugh it off. But off course, push too hard and the backlash would surely be severe.

Much like Queen Elsa, Hiccup was intelligent, observant and had foresight. But Elsa would lose confidence in herself in high pressure situations. Hiccup was the perfect person to stand by her side. Supporting Elsa when she loses confidence and stumbles. And if Elsa were to fall, Hiccup would be there to pick her up and carry her to the top.

"Madam Gerda is something wrong? Hiccup asked. Their dance was finished but Gerda was lost in thought until she heard Hiccup's voice.

"Not at all Chief Hiccup. In fact, it is quite the opposite. You have managed to complete the dance with perfection. I need to make some adjustments to your suit then we can go through the dance a couple more times."

"That's great. I am going to us some food," Hiccup said as he turned around and walked away.

Gerda watched Hiccup walk away with great intent. Watching every part of his body move, Gerda was filled with glee. Her wish had finally come true and she couldn't be happier.

* * *

Elsa stared at her reflection on the glass door. On the other side of the doors was the upper gardens and welcoming party, where the guests have already started to gather. Hiding away a loose strand of hair, Elsa liked how her light pink dress looked on her. Gerda did a spectacular job on her dress once again. The material felt smooth and durable yet light on her. She was very grateful her ice heels were not cracking from all her moving around, ice felt amazing to walk on. When most people were sloshing around in puddles of sweat insides their boots and heels, her feet remained cool. Anna, who was standing next to her, was also looking at her reflection. Elsa liked how Anna had chosen to wear the same dress that she wore on her coronation day, it looked good on her. The green colored dress with a brown bodice and that had a sprinkle of emeralds encrusted on the center. Her hair was done up into a side braid and her happiness just flowed out of her. and she walked across the room. Despite all of this, Elsa couldn't shake the impending doom that she was feeling in the pit of her stomach

"Calm down Elsa, you look like you are about to melt," Anna told her. Together the two sisters walked out across the gardens which was properly decorated to hold Hiccup's welcome party. The guests that have already arrived and were chatting among themselves, eager to meet the Dragon King. And by the looks of it, the party was shaping up to be magical. Anna had certainly done her research. For all of yesterday, Anna was in the library picking out dragons from different cultures for Elsa to copy. In addition, using her creative talents, Anna drew up a glamorous platform for which Hiccup will perform on.

"Of course I am nervous, what happens if something goes wrong? Hiccup and his dragons haven't practiced at all. What if an accident happens? I only dropped off Gerda to meet Hiccup this morning. We have been learning about the court etiquette and foreign relations our entire lives. Hiccup has had one day. There is no way he has enough time, he is going to end up embarrassing himself and or offend someone."

"You are being a pessimist again Elsa," Anna whined.

"Now I know why you were hesitant to introduce me to Hiccup. Hiding him away in that ice fortress so you could keep him all to yourself. My Queen is certainly a selfish one." A voice said from behind.

"Hiccup?" Elsa said slightly confused. Turning around, Elsa finds her head seamstress in a tasteful but reserved purple dress. "Gerda you are back already? Why aren't with Hiccup teaching him?"

"That's because he doesn't need any more of my teaching. Honestly that man is far too smart for his own good," Gerda said as she took a walk around Elsa to take a good at her design.

"Yup, the two of you will definitely be the hottest couple at the party."

"Did Hiccup say when he is going to show up?" the queen asked taking a step back from Gerda's uncomfortable gaze that shimmered like stars.

"Hiccup said he needed to get the dragons ready. Although he didn't say exactly when, the show will be starting soon. He also told me to tell you not to worry," Gerda said as Hiccup and Gerda both knew that Elsa would be a ball of nervousness.

A servant came walking by with drinks and Gerda quickly grabbed two glasses of wine. "Drink, it will calm your nerves." Gerda instructed.

Without hesitation, Elsa grabbed the drink and took it down in one go to the surprise of Anna and Gerda.

"I haven't seen this kind of nervousness in a long while," Anna commented, slightly worried. "I would like to try and help you Elsa but unfortunately I have to go find Kristoff. Gerda please take care of Elsa for me," Anna said as she took off.

"Hiccup is not here yet. I need to go up and talk to everyone," Elsa said to Gerda and leaving the seamstress behind as well. The guests naturally turned their gaze to the Queen of Arendelle as Elsa approached the platform. With a curious look they wondered where the Dragon King was or any dragons for that matter.

Suddenly a thunderous roar that Elsa easily recognized was heard that echoed across the capital city. Everyone looked up nervously as they were about to see dragons for the first time in their lives. Looking up herself, Elsa frowned. Out of all the things she could control naturally as the Snow Queen, the weather clouds was something that was out of her hands. The overcast night blocked the moon and stars which darkened the sky and made it impossible to see the dragons.

Looking back down, Elsa could already see some grumbles of disappointment within the crowds. But the sound of hundreds of dragons roaring above them was heard causing everyone to look up once more. What she saw completely amazed her. It seems Hiccup wasn't lying when he said tonight would be the night everyone would remember.

The darkened clouds began swirling ominously. Suddenly as small gap opened up in the cloud and a beam of moonlight broke through. The moonlight shined down on all the spectators from the gardens. Slowly, the moonbeam widened until the whole palace was lit up. Down in the city the children were in awe by the beautifully sight of the palace that shined in a world of darkness. However, the city of Arendelle was not forgotten. Slowly more and more beams of moonlight broke through the clouds and lit up the city. The clouds began to clear above the city until the entire capital city of Arendelle was blessed by the moon goddess' gaze.

The night skies were filled with dragons and together they started to swoop down. As the dragons flew down they playfully shot blue, green, red, and orange balls of fire at each other. The night sky was quickly lit up with colorful lights. One by one, each race of dragons flew down over the audience showed off some of their key characteristics. From the fire infused and powerful wings of the monstrous nightmare to the aerial and deadly precision of the Nadder.

Elsa tried to find Hiccup and Toothless but they were nowhere to be found. Elsa was looking in the wrong place. More roars are heard but this time, the sound came from below the palace. A large cloud of green gas emerged from below the palace and flew straight up. The green gas quickly climbed to the sky before turning its head towards the upper gardens. Crashing down into the platform, the green gas quickly disseminated across the ice platform.

The gas slowly cleared up to reveal Hiccup and a group of dragons standing on the ice platform. Elsa didn't realize she was holding her breath but once she saw Hiccup she let out a sigh of relief. Even though it was only three days since Elsa last saw him, it felt much longer to her then that and now the mere sight of him left her completely breathless. Standing at the forefront was Hiccup dressed in black.

Traditionally, the noblemen wore a white suit. The color of white represented the purity of their blood and the status of their power. In sharp contrast Hiccup wore a black suit. Combined with the fact that Hiccup was standing on the elevated platform, looking down on them, told the whole story.

Unlike the nobles, Hiccup did not need his bloodline to demand respect from others because he simply took it. With his absolute power, respect from others was simply given. He was nothing like them, they were nothing compared to him. He is the Dragon King, whose origin was as dark and mysterious as his suit. In front were people who represented some of the most powerful kingdoms, but he stood above all others with power that was immeasurable and incomparable.

Having a penchant for style and flare, Hiccup wasn't doesn't done yet. Directly behind Hiccup was Toothless, his wings fully sprawled out making it look like Hiccup himself had wings. The moon was shining radiantly behind Hiccup and the other dragons onstage. Ironically, it made Hiccup feel magical to Elsa, like he belonged in one of her books that she read as a child.

All eyes were on Hiccup as he took out a metal cylinder. And with a click fire started coming out of the rod making everyone gasp in amazement. Slowly he waved the fired over his head starting from the left and then to right and the dragons danced along with it. Down in the city the citizens and children of Arendelle we're not forgotten as dragon danced and flew above the streets. The performance entered its grand finale with the dragons swarming around Hiccup. With Hiccup in the middle the dragons formed tornado that reached the night sky. The tornado of dragons began shooting fireballs in an unintelligible manner and the night sky grew brighter and brighter until it was too bright to see. In a blinding flash dragons the began to return home as quickly as they first appeared leaving only Hiccup left on the center stage.

"My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." Hiccup said. "I am the Dragon King, and the last known living Viking. I would like to thank all of you for coming to my welcome party and I'm excited to meet all of you. And finally I would like to extend a personal thank you to Elsa, Queen of Arendelle for allowing me to stay in her backyard and organizing this wonderful party.

With his introduction over, the crowd politely clapped. Elsa was elated, the party is going so well so far. Seeing Hiccup walk down from the platform, Elsa moved to congratulate him on his spectacular performance. But before she could even get close to Hiccup, he was suddenly flocked by a group of women. Not understanding what was happening, Elsa was left dumbstruck.

Despite being a prideful woman, councilor Mia Seranov had to admit and knew when she was wrong. She had her personally reservations about so readily trusting a man who suddenly appeared from the sky. In her opinion, Arendelle would be much better off if the Dragon King stayed away from Arendelle. But after a spectacular performance that she had just witnessed, who wouldn't have second thoughts? Seeing her Queen in confusion in the corner of eye, she decides to go give some guidance to her as repentance.

"It's seems he has made quite the first impression on the women." Mia commented to Elsa as she walked up to her queen's side, to watch the spectacle alongside Elsa.

"What is going on?" Elsa said, unable to comprehend what she was seeing in front of her.

"If you don't understand even this much, then you still have a long way to go as a woman my Queen," Mia started to explained, "They are attracted to his power and after a performance like that who can blame them?"

"But look at them. There practically falling over each other just to touch him." Elsa replied still confused. "Whenever I put on a performance with my ice powers I have never gotten this sort of reaction. "

"Your ice power and his power are inherently differently on one simple fact. His power can be shared while yours cannot. For you to be standing by his side. Would that not make you the Dragon Queen? Would that not give you the ability to command the dragons yourself? On the other hand, your ice powers are yours and yours alone. Would standing by your side automatically make a person the Ice King? No it would not. Watching Hiccup perform, they saw themselves on that stage, something that others cannot do whenever you are on the stage. Combined with his looks and uniqueness and you have yourself the most desired man in the world."

Listening to Mia, Elsa could feel the cogs rotating into place as she was slowly understanding. The look everyone was giving Hiccup right now was the exact same look Elsa had been given before. The first time she mounted on top of her dragon with everyone watching, the times she commanded the dragons and the time she walked up to them without fear. Amazement and desire. The wonder of commanding their own dragon. But this reason alone was not enough to excuse them. Watching one of them brush her hand at the back of his hair and others flaunting their bodies to him. Elsa could feel nothing but unending hatred towards them all.

"But Hiccup chose me! Why are they even trying?" Elsa said, her voice a little high and on the verge of screaming."

"Well that's because you are standing here. Like a jealous little girl, who is too scared to compete with the other women. If you were a true full-fledged woman you would be stomping over there, ready to direct your blind fury at any woman who dares try to take what is rightfully yours. In addition, he is over there surrounded by women, when he should be here, standing by your side the moment he finished his speech. You have neglected to properly train him, leaving him vulnerable to others, failing to have him inescapably wrapped around your fingers, to be completely obsessed with only you. I repeat once again Queen Elsa, your shortcomings as a woman is the reason why they are trying.

"You didn't have to make so painful," Elsa mumbled as she rubbed her arm in hurt pride from Mia's harsh words.

"This is your first time at courtship, is it not your majesty? You have never been truly interested in men or playing this game. Normally you would have time to learn, and have a couple of relationships before settling down. But I imagine you don't want plan on losing this one. So it is best I be harsh and for you to learn quickly.

It was true that Elsa had nobody to blame but herself. If she were to lose Hiccup to another woman, it would be because she was hesitated, too scared to further their relationship and distanced herself when they got close.

"Excuse me your majesty, Councilor Seranov may I have a word with your queen in private please."

Turning around the two are surprised to find a stunning raven haired beauty. Elsa and this newcomer shared many similar qualities, Tall with a full body figure, beautiful eyes, and an aura that seemed to glow. Unlike Elsa however, this woman wore her hair down with flowing locks down her neck and with a dress that left nothing to the imagination. Her shoulder strap black dress left her upper back wide open. And at the bottom there were slits at the sides so that it gave glimpses of her flawless long legs every time she moved. The woman's beauty rivaled Elsa's but was a darker and seductive version of Elsa.

"Not at all, I was just about to leave," Mia replied putting on a fake smile. Turning her body to Elsa, "If you will excuse me my Queen I have some business to take care of, in case I don't see you again, I wish you a good night."

Moving closer, the older female hugged Elsa. Normally Mia was never for one for public affection, but in this case she had her reasons.

"Be very careful Elsa," Mia whispered, taking advantage of the closeness of their hug to talk to Elsa next to her ear. "That woman is nothing but trouble."

"I will, I am well aware of her reputation," Elsa assured her substitute mother figure.

The women waited until Mia was out of sight before continuing their conversation.

"Greetings your Majesty, my name is Jessica D'Orlan from the Eastern Kingdom of Damita," She introduced herself while giving a small curtsy.

"Welcome Jessica D'Orlan to the Kingdom of Arendelle, I hope you are enjoying your stay and the party.

"I am your majesty, but if we could go somewhere more private," Jessica said. Gesturing around their surrounding area, Elsa took a moment to look around to see practically every hot blooded young male looking in their direction. Elsa suddenly found herself extremely uncomfortable and trapped with nowhere to go.

"It would appear our combined beauty has left the men in a catatonic state." Jessica commented. Her hands resting on her cheek looking innocent but knowing full well what was happening. "I think the shrubberies at the side of the gardens will suffice."

With a nod Elsa followed the women, the words of caution that Mia gave her still ringed in her head. Practically every person has heard of her infamy and her beauty that was renowned across the continent. Her Father the Duke of D'Orlan and Fleet Admiral of Damita is one of the richest men in the world. And she being one of the most prized women in the world besides Elsa.

Although war was something she wanted to avoid, a trade embargo would be far worst. The duke of D'orlan had enough influence to stop all trade from flowing into Arendelle. But her father's power was not what Elsa is worried about. Every man she comes into contact with her, was left in a pathetic state and became obsessed with her. Willing to offer anything and everything for her hand in marriage. And after taking everything, more lined up to get their chance. As the ambassador of Damita, she visited various kingdoms and used her charms to sow chaos wherever she went.

A woman on the same level as Queen Elsa who she could not touch out of fear of angering her father and Damita itself. If Jessica was here in Arendelle, then she must be up to no good.

"I'm surprised you wanted to talk to me, it is after all a party for the Dragon King Hiccup," Elsa asked as she followed Jessica deeper into the gardens where the bushes were high, shielding them from unwanted eyes.

"Oh I do want to meet him, but he is bit preoccupied at the moment. I'm sure I will get my chance to meet him at some point. In the meantime, this is a perfect time to show my admiration for you," Jessica said.

"Admiration for me?" Elsa asked.

"But of course, I'm not an idiot like some of the people at this party who believes the official statement Arendelle sent out. A lost Viking with an army of dragons seeking refuge? As if, more likely he threatened to destroy Arendelle unless he got your hand in marriage. That nice guy act he is putting up might everyone but certainly not me." Jessica explained as she took a seat on the bench.

Brushing a loose strand of hair with one hand, she pats the side of the bench inviting Elsa to sit next to her. Not wanting to make things awkward Elsa complied. Seeing the queen sit next to her, Jessica gave a dazzling smile before continuing their conversation.

"I have always admired you. To be ruling an entire kingdom by yourself is not a simple task. And now under threat, you are able to keep calm even though you have to sacrifice yourself to keep Arendelle safe. You are truly an inspirational ruler."

"Ummm thank you," Elsa is at a loss for words. No woman besides her sister has ever complimented her in such a way. Most women she ever met were women who were older than her who treated her like a child, and the younger ones who were jealous of her and always trying to point out her flaws.

"Being a Queen and now being married to a tyrant must be a lonely life. That's why I wanted to talk to you, to offer you my friendship. If you ever need my help please don't hesitate to ask." Jessica said offering her hand out.

"Pardon my ignorance Lady Jessica, you are not what I expected." Elsa commented as she reaches her own hand out but Jessica quickly pulled back her hand before.

"The rumors surrounding me are all lies. Lies from spiteful men whom I have rejected. I thought you of all people would understand my plight."

"I'm sorry for judging you based on rumors. I'm not very good at making new friends," Elsa quickly apologized. "And you are right, I do understand what you have to go through. It used to happen to me all the time."

Reaching out her hand to Jessica this time, Elsa hoped that she would accept her apology. With a bit of hesitation Jessica did accept Elsa's apology.

"Before Hiccup, every so often I would get suitors that would come stomping into my palace declaring me a goddess. But the moment I kick them out, I am suddenly a witch and devil incarnate," Elsa said.

"I've been called a devil incarnate since I was fourteen," Jessica proudly declared with a big smile.

"My father was busy talking with a new trade partner and I was tasked with entertaining a thirteen-year old snot nosed brat," Jessica said. Her hands scratching wildly at her hair as the memory frustrated her to no end. "Five minutes into the tour of my home, the pampered brat declared that he wanted me like because I looked pretty. The brat acted like I'm some object that his rich daddy can buy. I told him that I was going to rip his eyes out and shove it down his throat."

"Well did you?" Elsa asked, while trying to hold her laughter.

"He ran off crying, but it happened many times in my head," Jessica said. Her hands tensed in front of her as she imagined the man's head and her hands choking him by the throat. Elsa couldn't hold her laugh any longer.

"It's not funny. How can you be laughing." Turning around to direct her anger at her. Elsa thought she could see her eyes flash red giving validity to previous rumors.

"It's because I understand and know the feeling perfectly which is why I am laughing."

"Honestly it's as if all the men I meet are brainless beasts" Jessica said with a huff as she sat back down next to Elsa. Turning to face Elsa with a small frown and pity in her eyes, "But then again maybe I shouldn't be complaining."

"Hiccup is not all that bad." Elsa said quietly.

"But that's all an act though. He is acting all nice and getting along with everyone right now but at some point he will snap and reveal his true nature. I've seen it all before, take it from me Elsa, I have seen men like this many times before in my travels as a diplomat. Actions speak louder than words. The dragon king can't threaten an entire kingdom and still be a nice guy. If I get a chance to meet him. I promise you I will be able to figure out what he is hiding, what he is planning, and if he is the perfect match for you," Jessica said.

"Can you really do it?" Elsa asked, "Can you really figure out his true nature if you got to meet him."

"I've never been wrong before. As the daughter of the Duke of D'Orlan; I, Jessica D'Orlan am willing to put my name on the line," Jessica declared.

Elsa wanted to trust Hiccup, but now with Jessica's words, she was having second thoughts. If she was still having doubts, then she couldn't dismiss them so easily. Elsa still needed to talk to Hiccup to find out for herself but maybe it was already too late. Maybe she was already trapped in Hiccup's sphere of manipulation, unable to discern the truth from his words and actions. But maybe an outsider would be able to. Elsa was hoping that Gerda would be able to do it but it seemed that her seamstress was completely enchanted with Hiccup. Elsa needed someone who couldn't be easily influenced by Hiccup's lighthearted and charming character. Of course Elsa didn't really trust Jessica either, they had only just met. Their friendship forged from shared lives. But Elsa couldn't see the harm of them meeting each other either.

Getting up from the bench Elsa straightened out her dress. If Gerda was to see her masterpiece get wrinkled she would go insane. Holding her hand out to her new friend, Elsa gave her an inviting smile.

"Come on, I think we've been hiding for long enough. I think it's time you meet my sister and my future husband to be."

* * *

Only two more chapters left until the end of the first half. School is messing up my release schedule but I will definitely publish the last two chapters before the end of the year. Thanks to all that reviewed last time and a thank you as usual for Colonel Pepper for helping me write this chapter.

I need a name for this chapter, any suggestions would be great.


	12. Chapter 12: The Fourth Dream

Recap: It has been a month since Hiccup arrived in Arendelle and it seemed that Hiccup and the dragons would forever hide away in their mountain. That was until circumstances forced the Dragon King out to save Princess Anna. To introduce them to the rest of the world, Queen Elsa organized a party where Hiccup and the dragons put on a wonderful performance. Before Elsa could congratulate Hiccup on the spectacle, she was sidetracked by the introduction of Jessica D'orlan.

* * *

Chapter 12: The Fourth Dream

Anna watched as Elsa left with a mysterious dark haired woman. she was curious about who that woman was but had other plans at the moment. With the eyes of a huntress, the princess of Arendelle set her eyes onto Hiccup. The fearsome dragon king was swarmed by women with only his head managing to peak out at the top.

This was the perfect opportunity to talk to Hiccup. Unlike Elsa, Anna wasn't going to give up before even trying and wasn't afraid to get a little physical with the other women. As Anna marched her way towards Hiccup, the music ensemble started playing. The music marked the start of the dancing as couples made their way to the dance floor.

"_Come on Anna you can do this_," Anna told herself as she stepped forward. Anna tried to squeeze her way past the other women. The endless buzzing of praise to Hiccup was almost deafening to Anna and the shoving was getting more violent as she swayed from left to right but she continued to push through. "_Almost there, just a little bit more_," Anna thought as she reached out her hand to Hiccup. But before she could make contact with Hiccup, Anna was stepped on by a woman in red. Losing her balance, Anna was quickly shoved aside. Falling onto the floor and completely astonished by the viciousness of these women, Anna was forced to give up.

Returning to her seat next to Kristoff, Anna watched as the skank that pushed her aside danced with Hiccup. Anna let loose every possible curse she could think of under her breath.

"Are you okay Anna?" Kristoff asked.

"These women are crazy! A little pushing, I have no problem with but violence is something I refuse to do."

"Can you really blame them? That was quite a show Hiccup put on," Kristoff said. With a frustrated sigh, Anna wanted to refute what Kristoff had said, but simply couldn't because she agreed too.

"Don't tell my sister this but I thought it was way cooler than Elsa's ice tricks," Anna said, "Watching different colors explode in the sky was way more exciting than Elsa's ice and with all the dragons dancing in the sky. I sure wish I could talk to Hiccup though."

"Relax Anna, you can have the first dance with me, although I won't be very good with this splint on my arm" Kristoff said as he waved his arm to show its limited movement.

"But I wanted to save you for last," Anna replied pouting.

"Can't have everything you want princess."

Grabbing onto her hand, Kristoff gave a comforting smile that lifted Anna's spirit. And soon enough the couple were lost in their own little world. As they joked around, party continued without them.

"May I have this dance?" Hiccup asked, interrupting the pair.

Looking up from her seat, Anna saw the man that had been elusive for weeks bowing down in front of her with one hand behind his back and the other reaching out to her in an inviting manner. Looking behind him, Anna could see a group of women giving venomous glares at her.

"Isn't there a line of women for you to dance with. Doesn't seem very fair." Anna said.

"Well, I'm sure Elsa would be mad at me if I didn't make a special exception for her most precious and dearest sister" Hiccup said with a small smile.

"Her most precious sister? I'm her only sister" Anna said indignantly as she took his hand. Anna followed Hiccup to the center stage but not before giving a smug look at all the other jealous women. After a small respite, the music band started up once again and the two started to gently sway with the music with their arms wrapped around each other.

"If your foot is hurting too much we can stop or take things slow." Hiccup said after their bodies had adjusted to the flow of the music.

"You saw that?" Anna asked.

"I did. I tried to get her to apologize to you but I wasn't able to convince her. Sorry," Hiccup responded.

"It's not your fault, you shouldn't have to apologize. And I appreciate you for trying." Anna said.

Staring intently at each other, the two continue to dance. Watching him, Anna wasn't sure what to make of him. "_He certainly is very handsome though_," Anna thought. His emerald eyes shined brilliantly, with a smile to match. And his hair was so wild that you couldn't help but want to bury your hands in them. The princess wasn't sure what the best course of action is. Should she try to act a little air headed and try to catch Hiccup off guard or be simply direct with what she wanted? Anna wasn't sure which to pick.

"How's my dancing? I hope I'm not doing too bad" Hiccup asked, interrupting Anna's thoughts.

"Not perfect but not too bad" Anna answered honestly. Hearing this, Hiccup gives a wide smile at her.

"Good, Madam Gerda would kill me if I messed this up after all the hours she spent teaching me."

"You have nothing to worry about Hiccup" Anna reassured. Appreciating his lighthearted attempt to start a conversation, Anna decided to be honest and direct with Hiccup.

"What is it that you want of my sister and what are your plan for the future of Arendelle?"

"What is it I want from Elsa?" Hiccup repeated as he gave the question a short ponder, "I guess the simplest answer is that I love Elsa and I wish to stay by her side."

Anna was taken by surprise by how strong and forward Hiccup's feeling towards Elsa were. Honestly, it reminded Anna of herself and how she was with Hans. But for some reason it also felt very different from her own.

"But you haven't known Elsa for very long. How can you say that you love her?" Anna asked. Trying to get a better grasp of his feelings and her own about this.

"That is certainly true. I haven't known Elsa for very long." Hiccup said as he shifted his gaze away from Anna, but what Anna saw wasn't sadness in his eyes but nostalgia. "But Elsa saved my life. When I was fell into the darkness, your sister was there to pull me out."

Listening to Hiccup's reason confused her even more. Not sure what to say after his earnest reply

"And for the future of Arendelle," Hiccup continued, "I don't really have much plans for myself much less for an entire Kingdom. Besides isn't that for Queen Elsa for decide? It's none of my business."

"But you're going to married to the Queen. Which will make you the King. Elsa has been ruling the kingdom by herself, despite what Elsa might have others believe, there is only so much she can do by herself. Arendelle needs a King and a Queen."

"Well in that case why don't you do it?" Hiccup asked.

"Me? Because I am just a princess!" Anna answered slightly shocked at his idiotic response, "Do you mean two Queens? That is absolutely absurd! It's never been done before, much less thought about."

"Pardon my ignorance princess, but what can a king do that a queen cannot? If a kingdom needs a king and a queen, then two queens will be just as good. Besides, the Queen gets to make the rules right? So it's not really a problem. I have no problem helping if needed but I wasn't born or raised here. These are your people, and your kingdom. You would probably make a better ruler than I would."

"Probably? Most definitely. I been studying all my life as a princess. I could rule circles around you." Anna declared raising her head up high. Laughing, the two continued their light hearted conversations. Anna threw every idea she would try, once she was queen, at Hiccup with rapid succession. By the time the music came to an end signaling the dance to be over, Hiccup had Anna eating in the palm of his hand. His gentle charm causing Anna to giggle uncontrollably even after the two separated from each other. Taking the princess's hand, Hiccup led them off the dance floor.

"I'm glad to see that the two are getting along," Elsa said as she walked up to them.

"Elsa, I've wondered where you've gone off to." Hiccup said.

"Well while you two were getting to know each other, I went off and made a friend," Elsa said. Standing slightly behind the queen, Jessica stepped forward.

"Greetings Dragon King Hiccup and Princess Anna. My name is Jessica D'Orlan, daughter of Admiral D'Orlan."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Jessica D'Orlan. If you are a friend of Elsa then I am sure we will get along just fine," Hiccup said giving a short bow.

Music started playing and a fresh set of couples started making their way to the dance floor.

"If you don't mind Hiccup, the fastest way for you two to get to know each other better is to dance. Why don't you two go ahead," Elsa said.

"I have no objections to that arrangement," Hiccup agreed. With a small bow Hiccup offered his hand to Jessica.

"Not at all. In fact, I should be apologizing. The Queen should have been dancing with you from the beginning but I took her away from you," Jessica said. Giving a small curtsy and quickly taking his hand, the two headed towards the dance floor.

Turning around Elsa was surprised to find that Anna had ran off. Giving a curious look to Kristoff, silently asking where her sister had gone, Kristoff could only give her a knowing expression. Looking around Elsa found her sister walking back to them.

"Well I was wrong about him," Anna said as she held two glasses of wine, the younger princess handing one off to her Queen. With a thanks, Elsa took the glass and lets in the magical red elixir. "But it's totally not fair! You didn't even tell me you met him before, let alone saved his life!"

"Saved his life? What are you talking? I've never saved his life before." Elsa said, giving her sister a puzzled look.

"Well that's what he told me, when I asked him why he loves you," Hearing Anna use the L word so suddenly, caused Elsa to become slightly red and flustered when she would have normally be unfazed.

Ignoring her sister, Anna pondered the conundrum. Hiccup said Elsa saved his life but Elsa says she did not. There's no way Hiccup can confuse my sister with anyone else. She is the only with ice powers. Anna's face brightened up as she figured out the answer to their puzzle.

"Maybe!" Anna said, her hand raised up and taking a dramatic pause to building up the tension for Elsa as she is about the unveil the truth, "You saved him in your past life and he has come to this time period to be reunited with you."

"Ridiculous," Elsa said, giving her one word shut down to Anna's brilliant explanation. Anna deflated hearing her older sister reject it so quickly but she wasn't about to quit so easily. Anna is not a giver upper.

"Well then how about this! You saved his life," Giving it a second try, the goofy sister gave another dramatic pause, "but in order to save his life you have to give up the memory of saving his life."

Narrowing her eyes at her sister, Elsa asks the obvious question, "How much have you had to drink tonight?" Elsa said giving her a bemused look. Anna had only ever gotten drunk once and completely embarrassed herself in front of an entire delegation. The morning Anna felt so sick that she swore off drinking no more than two drinks ever again.

"I'm not drunk!" Anna retorted. Taking one last sip of wine before passing it off to her boyfriend.

"And what about you? Have you've been indulging my sister with all this gossip nonsense?" Elsa asked, turning her glare onto Kristoff.

"Off course not," Kristoff repulsed, "there is no gossip when I already know the truth. In fact, what Anna said only proves my theory further. Hiccup is absolutely a blood sucking vampire!"

"What? No! How many times do I have to tell you? There's no way Hiccup can be the dragon king and a vampire." Anna argued.

"But it makes perfect sense. Hiccup needed blood, and Elsa was there. When vampires suck people's blood, the people lose their memory of it ever happening." Kristoff countered.

"You two are impossible," Elsa sighed and shaking her head, tired of all the wild speculations.

"Are you sure want to worried about me when you should be worried about Hiccup." Anna's said, turning the focus to the dance stage. Hiccup and Jessica were dancing together as they talked. "T_hey look really good together_", Elsa thought to herself. The queen hoped that her dance with Hiccup would look just as good.

"Well off course I don't completely trust Jessica. But she has been acting genuinely nice towards to me ever since we met. I don't know how long it's been since that happened. Whether it is an act or not, Jessica is quite influential and I don't want to get into a conflict with the Duke and Admiral of D'Orlan, so what else am I supposed to do but reciprocate?" Elsa explained.

"You've only met Jessica for a day, and you've known Hiccup for like month and you hardly know anything about him. You didn't even know that you saved his life." Anna pointed out.

"I know I've been avoiding Hiccup. Mostly because I was scared. But things are different now, I will be sure to get the bottoms of things after tonight," Elsa said, declaring her commitment. With the matter settled, Elsa returned her attention back to Hiccup and Jessica, awaiting eagerly for her time.

As Hiccup danced with Jessica, he wondered who she was. His instincts told him that something was amiss, that there was something more to Jessica. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with.

"You are quite the hard man to find," Jessica said, "Nobody seems to know where you are. Have you been hiding away in that mountain of yours this entire time?"

"Well, technically no, I haven't locked myself away in the mountain," Hiccup refuted. "But it is true I have been avoiding everyone. Tonight is the only the second time I have visited the palace. I could go on about my recent introverted tendencies, but I'm sure that's not what you are here for. What did you want to talk about?"

"How very direct and getting to the heart of the conversation I see, I like that in a person," Jessica said, glad to have skip anymore introductory pleasantries. "I came to give you a warning. I have been hearing rumors of an assassination plans, you should be careful."

"Will they target Elsa, or anyone else as well?" Hiccup asked carefully. Keeping his features tempered, Hiccup did not want to signal any possible watchers.

"I don't know but you should be more worried about yourself," Jessica warned. "They could strike from the shadows at any moment."

"I'm sure Elsa and General Grahm have security under control. But if they were to attack me now, I would be very grateful for your assistance.," Hiccup said lightheartedly.

"Me?" Jessica said surprised, "But what can I do?"

"I'm sure you would be of great help. You seem like quite the capable and well equipped woman, in fact you remind me of an old friend, a raven haired beauty much like yourself. She would come and go, and would be a bit aloof sometimes but always friendly. However, whenever she was around, my friends and I would always seem to find ourselves in some trouble." The music slowly died off, and Jessica lowered her hands as she contemplated what Hiccup said. The parallels Hiccup had drew slowly dawned on her and what they meant. With a gentle hand on her back, Jessica was led back the queen and princess.

"Finally, the stars of the show can take the center stage!" Anna said as she shoved Elsa towards Hiccup. Taking Elsa's hand, Hiccup quickly took her to the stage before she could say anything. Turning around, Anna wanted to properly introduce herself to Elsa's new friend but she was nowhere to be found.

Taking the center stage, Elsa and Hiccup naturally fell into the rhythm of the music.

"So how was your trip Hiccup," Elsa asked.

"It was great! I was able to take in the sights, meet a nice couple, I even saved a goat," Hiccup said.

"A goat?"

"It was being chased by some wolves, and was about to be eaten."

"How whimsical of you to go on an adventure, while I was here, busy worrying about you and getting this nice welcome party set up," Elsa said perturbed.

"And I greatly appreciate all of your hard work. I promise to make it up to you," Hiccup said. "And my little adventure wasn't a complete waste. My memories have finally returned Elsa."

Hearing those words, a wave of relief flowed over Elsa. Finally, the truth will come out, no more uncertainty and no more mysteries.

"Anna told me that I that saved your life," Elsa said. "Why don't I remember?"

"It's true that you did save me, and the reasons why you don't remember is a long story. But I don't think this is the best place for storytelling."

"You're right, I've waited a month I can wait a bit longer. But definitely tonight right Hiccup?"

"Of course Elsa, but there is something else, we need to talk about as well," Hiccup said turning a little more serious, "Jessica said there was an assassination plan against me."

"I will talk to General Grahm and tighten security after this," Elsa said frowning.

"There's no need to scare the guests Elsa, and it would tip off are would be assassins. They would be more careful if they know we were on to them and it would be harder to find them. The sooner we find out who they are the sooner we can put end to it."

"But your life is at stake right now. You're not scared?" Elsa asked.

"I'm sure we can handle whatever it is they throw at us."

"I wish I could be as confident as you but then again it would be kind of weird for the Dragon King to get scared."

"I can get scared too, but I have faith in your abilities Elsa." Hiccup said

"Well I suppose there's always plan F if things go badly," Hiccup gave her a raised eyebrow as he prodded Elsa to continue, "The F stands for freeze. Anna aptly named it. In short I just freeze everything and have my palace in a giant block of ice. I can then sort everything, one person at the time afterwards. The diplomatic aftermath would be a complete nightmare but at least everyone's safety would be assured," Elsa explained.

"That totally amazing Elsa, see I told you we can handle anything that happens."

"I wish I could be so calm and trusting as you Hiccup. How do you do it?"

"The most important person to trust is yourself. You must believe that you can outsmart and outmaneuver anyone or anything, no matter the situation. Your sister has faith in you, the people of Arendelle have faith in you. Just as I am the Dragon King, you are the Queen of Arendelle. You have made it this far because you are strong. So have a little faith in yourself," Hiccup said.

Every fiber of her being told her to trust Hiccup. She didn't know why and there were many pieces of the puzzle that were still missing. But Elsa had to trust herself and Hiccup. For the past month, she had been going back and forth and it has gotten her nowhere. The only real path was to move forward.

OoOoO

The boats creaked and rocked as they bobbed on top of the lunar tides. Various types of boats were docked at Arendelle's port. From simple trades boats and fishing boats, to massive transport ships of the affluent. But of course none were as extravagant and audacious as Jessica D'Orlan's ship. Nothing but the best for the daughter of an Admiral.

Making her way back to her ship from the palace, Jessica could feel a presence following behind, reaching closer and closer. From her peripheral she could see the shadows subtly shift.

"There is no point in hiding anymore Lieutenant Garrick. Come out." Jessica ordered without bothering to look behind herself. Emerging from the shadows were a contingent of soldiers.

"Lady Jessica?" the Lieutenant asked. His questioning tone asking for more than what was spoken.

"Not here, we will talk on the ship," Jessica said as she continued to march down the docks. Her bodyguards silently followed her up the plank and onto the ship. The guards on active duty saluted Jessica and the Lieutenant as they walked across the ship and entered Jessica's quarters.

"Tell my father that we are pulling our support," Jessica ordered." Make sure that the nothing can be traced back to D'Orlan in anyway shape or form.

"As you wish princess," the lieutenant replied. "But if I may so boldly ask, what changed your mind? We were waiting for your signal but it never came. A lot of people won't be happy that you decided to back off."

"I would much prefer to deal with them than face the Dragon King. That man is way too dangerous and perceptive and so is the Queen of Arendelle. Even Princess Anna to some extent. It would be much better to have them as their allies than enemies," Jessica explained.

"Understood your majesty," Lieutenant said and then quickly left.

"_He was practically taunting me to do it. How the hell did he even know it was there_?" Jessica though with a frustrated sigh. Brushing her jet black hair, Jessica pulled a hidden object from beneath her hair. The object was wrapped in a black cloth that matched her hair and was further disguised with fake hair. Unwrapping the cloth, Jessica stared at the thin blade, wondering if her choice was the right one and imagined what would have happened had she tried to kill him.

OoOoO

High up at the top of the palace, Hiccup looked down from a balcony and watched as the guests left the palace for the night. The high winds rustled Hiccup's loose tunic. It was a long night in a stuffy suit and Hiccup was glad to be out of it.

"I think the party was a success if I do say so myself." Hiccup said.

"It certainly was," Elsa replied. Having recently finished bathing, Elsa sat down at her vanity located beside the balcony entrance. Opening a drawer Elsa took out a brush to straighten out her hair.

"It's unfortunate that we couldn't have the dragons join in the party. But having them would have been too big of a step for everyone." Elsa said as she stepped onto the balcony.

"Are you kidding? Toothless is ecstatic that I'm gone. The dragons are having a wild party right now. Frankly speaking, I'm surprised my mountain hasn't burst into flames yet."

"If you find yourself without a home you are more than welcome to stay with me Hiccup," Elsa laughed. Turning her head Elsa was surprised to see Hiccup looking at her strangely, "what's wrong?"

"I think this is the first time I've seen you with your hair down. You look beautiful, you should do it more often." Kept together with a simple hair band, Elsa platinum hair flowed down her back.

"I just got out of the bath and it really late, I didn't want to bother anyone for help to braid my hair," Elsa said blushing as she subconsciously played with her hair.

"In that case let me take care of it for you," Hiccup said, as he reached out with his hand.

"What? No," Elsa said as she pushed Hiccup's hand aside but Hiccup continued to be persistent.

"What's wrong Elsa? There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"What about you? Why are you being so persistent? Do you have some sort of hair fetish? Do you even know how to braid hair?"

"Of course I don't, I'm not weird like that Elsa, you know me." Hiccup replied. Breaking through Elsa's defenses Hiccup almost grabbed onto her hair before Elsa quickly sidestepped. With both arms Elsa wrapped them around Hiccup's arm, using her entire body to keep Hiccup's arm down.

"No, I don't," Elsa said, giving Hiccup the most threatening glare she could muster, daring Hiccup to try anything else.

"Right, you don't have all of your memories back," Hiccup relented as he turned to watch the stars. Continuing to hug Hiccup's arm Elsa shifted her gaze to the stars, wondering what Hiccup had in store for her.

OoOoO

Blue skies, snow white clouds, lush green forest, and a massive mountain in the backdrop. Elsa didn't know where she was.

"This definitely doesn't feel like I am in Arendelle," Elsa thought. "Where am I and how do I get back home?"

Walking through the forest, Elsa found a small trail with small tracks on the ground. Kneeling down Elsa carefully examined the tracks. There were two sets of tracks and they were small. But they didn't look like any animal footprint that Elsa knew of. They were round and long. Much like the tracks of a human child would make. Before she could analyze the tracks any further, Elsa heard the sound of running footsteps. Elsa quickly hid behind a tree.

"Come on we need to get back before sundown," a voice of a little girl said as she ran past the tree Elsa was hiding behind.

"Wait up! I need to find my hatchet." The voice of a boy said. But it seemed that the girl did not wait for him as Elsa heard the girl run off without him.

"I can't return without my hatchet, dad is going to kill me if I don't bring it back," the boy said. "Now where did my hatchet go? I know I left it somewhere here," the boy questioned as he started to walk around looking for it.

Elsa wanted to take peak around the tree but she couldn't risk getting caught at the moment without knowing her surroundings and whether or not there was anyone else close by. As Elsa listened closely the sound of footsteps slowly died off. Letting out a sigh of relief Elsa left her hiding spot but then she completely froze. Two rows down, lodged in a tree was a little brown hatchet.

_"I need to leave this area quickly before he comes back_," Elsa thought but it was already too late.

"There it is!" A voice said from behind. Turning around Elsa spotted a little brown haired boy, no older than six, with green eyes and a mop of brown hair, standing on top of a boulder. Hopping down the boy ran straight towards Elsa.

"Umm hello my name is Elsa," the Snow Queen greeted. Having been caught there was nothing else but to introduce herself. Elsa reached out her hand to greet the child but he showed no sign of reacting to her greeting and showed no sign of stopping. Before Elsa could react, the brown haired boy ran straight through her as if she was a ghost.

"There you are hatchet. Dad would have been really mad if I lost you," the boy said as he strained himself to pull the hatchet out of the tree. The boy tried every possible position as he tried to pull the hatchet out but it wouldn't budge. Kicking both his feet onto the tree, the boy gave one last effort and with all his might he pulled. Letting out a yell the hatchet finally fell off, with the boy along with it, onto the ground.

"Come on Hiccup we need to go back now!" a blond haired girl yelled at the top of the hill.

"Coming Astrid," Hiccup yelled as he got off the ground and ran after her.

Watching the entire scene, the pieces of the puzzle started to fit into place. "_So this is what he meant when he said he would show me everything_," Elsa thought. Hiccup was keeping things interesting as always. But Elsa wouldn't have wanted any other way. She could hardly contain her excitement as she chased after little Hiccup into the sunset.

* * *

Beta Reader: Colonel Pepper

Cover page by Mistress of the Snow

Reviews, Favorites and Follows are welcome and appreciated


	13. Chapter 13

A few things to say before we start,

I found myself in the Harry Potter section in Fanfiction for the first time and it took me a very long time to get out, there was just so many damn words.

To those who had forgotten what the core plot was, there is a quick recap in chapter 12 so would only need to read one chapter instead of reading from the start.

Dreamland: Elsa is dreaming of Hiccup pasts, Elsa cannot influence the past and she is restricted to Hiccup's POV. Keep this in mind as the readers will not be restricted to this pov, because I suck at writing. We will not be spending anytime with Hiccup's childhood and go straight into the heart of plot which takes place after HTTYD 2 and 3.

Title: I will be leaving this chapter purposely untitled for awhile to indicate that this chapter is the start of the second half.

To Kuroneko nnch: No sappy love story, the second half will be more action oriented which is why it took so long. Writing action is really hard.

* * *

Chapter 13

In the frigid north, far away from Berk. An inconspicuous but momentous mountain stood strong in the midst of a snow storm. Suddenly, at the peak of a mountain an explosion occurred. Emerging from the smoke, snow, and rubble, was Valka and Cloudjumper. Slightly battered and burnt but otherwise okay, Valka and Cloudjumper landed on top of the snow and tobogganed down the mountain in attempt to escape their pursuers.

Emerging from the hole Cloudjumper made, was a Skrill, Zippleback, Deadly Nadder, and Snow Wraith. The dragon riders that rode on top wore heavy brown cloaks and wore dragon masks of their respective dragon. The pursuers mirrored Valka and Cloudjumper, as they landed onto the snow and sledded after them.

"Faster Cloudjumper!" Valka urged as she clutched onto the relic the pursuers were after. Peering down Valka opened her hand to confirm that she was still holding the Gem of Ice. The opal shaped relic, shined a brilliant azure blue as it rested upon the palm of Valka's gloved hand. The relic had a small hole at the top with a rope pulled through that it could be worn as a necklace. Putting the key around her neck, Valka redoubled her resolve as she looked forward. Lowering herself close to Cloudjumper, the dragon rider braced herself against the wind and snow that whipped against her face. The high altitudes and snow storm were too strong for even a dragon such as Cloudjumper to fly. The sooner they reached to bottom of the mountain the sooner they could fly and get away.

Valka's pursuers had no intention of letting her go so easily. Two riders with their Skrill and Deadly Nadder maneuvered to each side, of Cloudjumper. With staffs in hand, they were prepared to knock Valka off her dragon, but Cloudjumper forcefully opened his wings, pushing the two pursuers away. Looking behind Valka saw the Skrill and Deadly Nadder quickly lose control of their speed. Spinning, the riders of the dragons were flung off of their dragons, as the dragons flipped and began tumbling in the snow. Looking further back Valka, turned her attention to the Zippleback, Snow Wraith, and their riders.

"Cloudjumper watch out," Valka cried. Listening to Valka's command, Cloudjumper narrowly dodge an ice blast. Had Cloudjumper been a little bit slow, the pair would have been trapped in a tomb of ice. Seeing that the first shot had miss, the Snow wraith let out a fury of ice blasts.

Weaving between the ice blasts as they reached the midway point of the mountain, Valka could see a forest of ice rocks, the result of ice dragons playing in the snow. The ice rocks would provide excellent protection from the icy breath of the snow wraith. Thankful for the reprieve, Valka and Cloudjumper entered the ice forest. Through years of experience, Cloudjumper masterfully navigated himself them through the forest and occasionally used his powerful wings to push off against the ice rocks to move diagonally. The Snow Wraith and Zippleback had a much harder time as they slowly lagged behind, unable to keep pace with Cloudjumper.

As Cloudjumper reached an ice rock that was too wide to go around, Cloudjumper let out a mighty roar before unleashing a fireball, creating a hole in the ice. As they zoomed through the hole that Cloudjumper created, Valka felt like something was wrong but her instinct were too late. The snow in front of them began to slowly shift, and from underneath the snow emerged a Rumblehorn.

Surprised, Cloudjumper took a hard left to avoid the Rumblehorn, but still clipped the side of the tracker class dragon. At the speed Cloudjumper was traveling, the momentum was too much for Valka to overcome. Cloud jumper spinning out of control, Valka was flung off of her dragon and helpless to the force of gravity. Flying through the air, Valka instinctively formed herself into a ball and tumbled roughly against the snow. By the time Valka finally stopped, her ears rung, and her vision blurred. She was given no reprieve as she noticed a blurred form running towards her. Letting out a small groan, Valka slowly got up with her staff at the ready as the Snow Wraith masked figure charged at her.

Valka quickly sidestepped his sword as she roughly jammed her staff into the pit of his stomach, with enough force to cause him to stagger back. Spinning her staff and stepping forward, She went for the throat next but missed as the man jumped back.

Valka shifted her gaze past the man, who was slowly recovering from the blow, to her surroundings. It was only a matter of time before her other pursuers caught up to her. Unfortunately, Cloudjumper was still dazed from the impact of the Rhumblehorn and subsequent crash. The only hope she had in escaping was to stall for time and wait for Cloudjumper to recover.

Having finally stopped dry heaving, the man slowly approached Valka once more. "_He is a quick learner,"_ Valka thought. His opponent wasn't just some elderly mother but a ferocious warrior. No longer was he charging with reckless abandon, and watched carefully for what Valka did.

Valka twirled her staff around hoping to draw her attacker's focus onto the staff as she carefully etched forward. The staff was the weapon but the true danger was Valka herself. Years of mimicked dragon instinct kicked in as Valka dashed forward. Left, right and above, Valka unleashed a flurry of strikes. Each strike was blocked with trained discipline, as the man stood his ground.

Their evenly matched dual, was prematurely stopped, when the sound of an arrow, pierced through the screams of the snow storm. Hopping back Valka narrowly dodged the arrow. "_An amazing shot! Taking into account the strong winds of the high mountains, the arrow curved perfectly towards me. The archer is absolutely incredible to have the confidence to not his own ally. Dragon riders with incredible skill, who are these masked figures?" _Valka asked herself as she found herself quickly surrounded by five humans and five dragons.

"There is no where left to run. You might as well surrender," the muffled voice of the snow wraith masked man in front of Valka said.

"I still have one more trick to play," Valka said as she slowly reached into her belt. "_Please let this be one of Hiccup's invention that works," _Valka prayed as she pulled out a small round object. Twisting the knob she threw the object onto ground. A cloud of black smoke bursted out of the item causing confusion amongst Valka's enemies.

There was nowhere to run for the elder dragon rider, but if she could make it back into the mountain, she could at least hide and buy some more time for Cloudjumper. Under the cover of the smoke, Valka snuck behind one of her pursuers and struck her on the back of her neck. The woman let out a cry of pain as she fell to the snow covered ground.

Running back towards the entrance, Valka narrowly dodged an arrow that nearly took her ear off. Valka's heart felt like it was on fire while her legs threatened to fall off but Valka continued to push herself to the limit. Peeking behind, Valka could see four pursuers following after her.

The Snow Wraith, Zippleback, Rhumblehorn, Nadder and Skrill emerged from the top smoke. Flapping their wings, the dragons scanned the area and found the Valka running away. Flying as low as possible, the dragons cut Valka off, the Zippleback and Nadder created a wall of fire to stop Valka in her tracks. Following up, the dragons landed in front, and let out a fearsome roar.

Trapped once more, Valka turned around and mentally prepare herself once more to fight. Side rolling away from wide swing of a blade, Valka used her staff to block another arrow. Pivoting backing once more, she swung her staff towards the man's face. But before the staff could connect, it was stopped short. A rope that came from behind, wrapped around the staff. With a force full tug the staff was ripped out of Valka hands.

Valka took a vicious kick to the back of her calf, causing her to fall to her knees. Two large hands grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her into place as another pair wrapped her wrists in rope. Valka struggled her hardest to break free but was helpless to stop the third person as he reached forward. The man with the snow wraith mask pulled the necklace off of Valka's neck.

"Do you have they key?" A muffled feminine voice behind a Deadly Nadder mask asked, as she defensively stood in between Valka and the man, prepared to mount a counter should Valka break free.

"Yes I have it," confirmed the Snow Wraith mask. Raising his hand, he held the Gem of Ice with two fingers letting his comrades see, "it's time to leave."

"What about the women and her dragon?" Asked a second feminine voice that wore a mask of a Zippleback.

"Her dragon is fine, they should be able to get out of this storm just fine," said a man that wore a Rumblehorn mask.

Shrugging with indifference, the masked riders mounted their respective dragons. Finally low enough to fly, the five dragons lifted off one after the other. Flying low, the dragons slowly built up speed before fly off past the horizon.

The snow storm raged on, as Cloudjumper lifted himself off the snow. His head was still spinning and gave himself a rough shake. Quickly Cloudjumper searched for his partner. Spotting her still face down in the snow, Cloudjumper quickly returned to Valka's side. The elder dragon gave an apologetic look to Valka as he opened his wing to shielded Valka from the snow. With his teeth, the dragon bit off the loosely tied ropes.

With her arms free, Valka took great pains to turn herself over and face her partner. Despite Valka's tousled hair impeding vision, she could see her partner's saddened face.

"It's okay Cloudjumper, no point on dwelling on what happened," Valka roughly reassured as she shifted her hair away from her face. Reaching out to her dragon, she gently scratched Cloudjumper underneath her chin to comfort her dragon.

Slowly but painfully, Valka climbed onto Cloudjumper and sprawled herself on the back her dragon, "it's time to go home Cloudjumper."

OoOoO

Astrid and Stormfly flew through the skies at a breakneck pace. Although not being anywhere near as fast as a Nightfury, Astrid was still prideful that her best friend was the fastest Deadly Nadder that ever existed. But of course their current flight speed was not pointless. Astrid was mad and was on the hunt for her prey.

Spotting Itchy Armpit, the pair landed with a loud thump. Hopping off her dragon, Astrid scanned the area for any sign of Hiccup or Toothless. Her battle axe in hand was itching to be thrown at something or someone. In no time at all Astrid spotted the pair, with their top half in a pool of water.

"What the heck are you guys doing?!" Astrid yelled, loud enough so that even Hiccup and Toothless underneath the water could hear her. Twitching from her voice, the alpha dragon and alpha Viking jerked themselves out of the water.

Time seemed to slow down for Astrid, as Hiccup emerged from the pool of water. Turning around his body was wet and glistened against the sunset. His defined muscles slowly flexed and stretched as he brushed his unruly wet hair back and away from face to reveal his brilliant emerald eyes. Everything about Hiccup, from the top of his head to his shadow, exudes manliness. With a tightened chest and throat dry, Astrid couldn't help but lick her lips. Dropping her battle axe, that fell blade first into the ground with a thud, the shield maiden approach Hiccup.

"Hey Astrid," Hiccup greeted. The dragons upon seeing each other ran off to play together and to leave the pair alone. Bending down, Hiccup picked up a towel and started to dry himself off, "are you here to bring me back now?" Hearing Hiccup's question Astrid was snapped out of her trance.

"No, I am here to yell at you," Astrid said as a matter of fact. Hiccup gave her a curious raised eyebrow, wondering what he had done this time to upset his girlfriend. Turning her head Astrid revealed her braid splintered and broken, "My hair unraveled during training and I ended up missing. I MISSED Hiccup! What are you going to do about it?"

To Astrid's predicament Hiccup couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Sorry, sorry, sit down and I will fix it," Hiccup said in between breaths as he put on a brown tunic. With a frustrated sigh, Astrid fell back onto the ground and glared at Hiccup as he dried off his hands and sat down behind her. Feeling the tug of her hair as Hiccup and as his fingers brushing along the strands of her hair to straighten them Astrid started to ease up.

"Honestly what kind of boyfriend messes up his girlfriend's hair?" Astrid grumbled.

"I will get it right someday," Hiccup joked.

"So why are you out here at Itchy Armpit? You out here hiding again?"

"Sometimes I need a break. It's has been a lot of work preparing for the Great Gathering of Chiefs. The last one obviously didn't turn out so well. With Drago and his dragons, and only my father surviving. It's been a long time since then and so everything has to be perfect." Hiccup explained.

"You know the elders, especially Gothi, have been pressuring me again. With each passing day, as we get closer to the meeting day, they are getting more and more obsessed. Berk needs an heir in case something happens to you. So let's just get married already," Astrid said offhandedly.

This wasn't the first time Astrid asked for Hiccup's hand in marriage, and has tried many tactics. This time, Astrid had hoped that her casual indifference would incite a more desirable response.

"Sorry, but my answer is still no," Hiccup replied. Letting out an unsavory sigh, Astrid prepared herself to the same old excuses and reasons once more. "All your life you've trained. Through blood and sweat, to become the greatest viking warrior and defender of Berk. That is not the job description of a wife of a Viking chief. Your responsibility would be to raise children and to take care of the future.

"Well I would already be the greatest if it wasn't for you," Astrid grumbled, as she gave Hiccup an accusatory glare, recalling all the times that she had lost to him in a duel.

"It's not an achievement unless there is a struggle. By being the best I am actually helping you," Hiccup argued as he gave her a hug from behind, "I am the unclimbable mountain, the impossible goal. And when you overcome the impossible goal. It will make your achievement that much greater and sweeter. Astrid couldn't help but roll her eyes as she listened to Hiccup's illusions of grandeur.

"Besides who would have thought scrawny little Hiccup would ever best Astrid Hofferson in a fight. Let me enjoy my time in glory," Hiccup teased, only to be a rewarded an elbow, that Hiccup dodged easily with a laugh. Years of Astrid's "affectionate taps" have made Hiccup develop a near sixth sense to avoid them.

"Well in that case why I can't I do both? Who says I can't raise a child and train to be the best?" Astrid countered.

"But there's a big problem with that idea Astrid," Hiccup said, as he leaned in closer to Astrid's ear. With a husky tone in a low whisper. Astrid's heart skipped a beat, and couldn't help but gulp as she hung to every words, "If I had a child with you, I wouldn't be able to stop myself at just one."

"Besides, I still have my own dream that I need to accomplish before we have kids or get married." Hiccup said as he pulled back from Astrid's ear, "what happens when we are gone? Berk may be at peace but the other tribes are still fighting a war with the dragons." Taking a breath before continuing, "with Vigo gone this is the perfect time to bring about true peace to the Archipelago. The Bogs Burglars, the Meat Head Clan, Bashem Oiks, and Lava Louts, it's time to show them the true nature of dragons and how to live with them and not against them. We just need to wait a little bit more Astrid. Just a little bit more time for you to be the greatest viking in history and for me to bring peace to the Archipelago."

Listening to Hiccup reasons once more, Astrid couldn't help but begrudgingly agree with his logic. But that did not mean she had to like it, "would it be selfish to say that I want them both?" Astrid asked.

"It wouldn't be you if you had wanted it any other way," Hiccup said as he grabbed Astrid's hand and pulled back her glove. Slowly Hiccup reached from his behind. Astrid gave Hiccup a curious look as he unceremoniously placed a ring onto her finger. Lifting her hand Astrid stared at the gem embedded ring.

"Wanted to give you something special, a symbol of my promise to you that we will be together someday. See? I have one too," Hiccup explained as he raised his own hand to show Astrid. Smiling Astrid leaned forward, and supported herself on one arm as she gave Hiccup a kiss.

OoOoO

By the time Hiccup and Astrid reached Berk, the sun had already set and the statues that ringed around the island had already been brightly lit. Whether it was the sky or the sea, nobody was entering Berk unseen. Besides the few watchers and patrols, most Berkians had already returned home or were gathering into the great hall for supper. The exception being Fishlegs who was approaching them on top of Meatlug.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs called out as Meatlug stopped in front of them, "where have you've been?"

"What's wrong Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked.

"Your mother is back and it looks like she got into some sort of fight. She's injured and Gothi is tending to her wounds in her hut right now."

Frowning, Hiccup couldn't help but have a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Despite returning home, Hiccup's mother would occasionally leave for weeks at a time. When Hiccup asked about it, his mother claimed that it was dragon spirit in her, having the need to spread her wings set free and to soar the skies. But Hiccup always knew it was more to it, His mother had a purpose that was more than just needing freedom.

"Take me to her." Hiccup insisted.

Taking the lead, Hiccup led Astrid and Fishlegs to Gothi's hut. Opening the door, Hiccup steeled himself, preparing for the worst. The room as usual was dimly lit, and smelled of ash with a hint of something that Hiccup could never identify. A swarm of Terrible Terrors flew past, Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs, having been set free for a little night flight. Resting on a makeshift bed, Valka, let out groans of pain as Gothi poked and prodded her body.

"Hiccup," Valka called out little too loudly after seeing her son. Valka regretted it instantly as she felt a sharp pain to her rib. Kneeling down next to her, Hiccup gave his mother a concerned look. He had lost her once and had no plans of losing her a second time.

"Mom what happened to you?" Hiccup asked as he gripped her hand in concern.

"Hiccup I need your help, the fate of all dragons, and the archipelago is at stake," Valka said. Hiccup could feel the anger swell up inside, upon hearing her mother's word. The last time he had to fight to save their dragons, he had lost a father. Hiccup didn't want to lose his best friend but at the same time he didn't want to fight and lose anyone else.

"What? Whose fist do I need to bloody with my face this time!" Tuffnut yelled as bursted through the door

"Yea, because that worked out so well against Drago," Ruffnut guffawed as she sauntered behind Tuffnut along with Snotlout.

"What's that dear sister? It sounds like you need an ass whooping," Tuffnut said as he tried to head-butt Ruffnut with his horned helmet.

"I'll show you an ass whooping," Ruffnut countered as she clashed her horned helmet against her brother's. The sibling's fight ended decisively when Tuffnut was grabbed by the back of his neck and being thrown back onto the ground.

"Will you two quit it already, this is serious," Astrid yelled. Hands on her hips, Astrid directed the attention of everyone back to the Viking Chief and his mother. "If Hiccup is getting himself into trouble again then count me in."

"Us too," Fishlegs said, as he came through the door along with Snotlout.

Peering behind, Hiccup could see his friends gathering around. Through thick and thin; Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut had always been there for him. With a surge of confidence, he turned around and tightened his grip on his mother's hand. He was the Viking Chief and he would do whatever it took to make sure everyone was safe. He nodded his head toward his friends and comrades.

"We will take care of it mom, we always do, together."

* * *

Author's end notes: I have a couple more chapters drafted out. I think I will be able to consistently publish a chapter every two weeks. Hopefully this will give me enough time to finish up chapters and draft out new ones. I had originally hoped to have finished this story by the end of December which is highly unlikely now. Rest assured I will FINISH this story. Next up, a whole lot of non canon lore.

Beta Reader: Colonel Pepper

Typo Helper: warorpeace

Cover page by Mistress of the Snow

Reviews, Favorites and Follows are welcome and appreciated


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It had been hours since they left Berk, leaving Gobber to finish the preparations for the Great Gathering of Chiefs. And after hours of following Valka and Cloudjumper through the mist northward, the group's previous enthusiasm for another adventure was quickly replaced with boredom.

"How much longer is this going to take," Snotlout complained.

"Remind me again why we always bring Snotlout along when we should leave him behind," Astrid shot back.

"Please, who else is going to keep the group safe if Hookfang and I aren't here?" Snotlout retorted to which Hookfang gave a snort of agreement.

"It's alright," Valka said with her usual motherly patience. Getting up from her sitting position on the back of Cloudjumper and turning around, Valka addressed the young group of dragon riders, "We are almost there."

Hearing those two magic words the entire group perked up. The mist began to clear up. No one knew what they were going to see, except Valka, but they all hoped that it was going to be amazing. After many years, they were going to finally see what was Valka's secret, the reason for why she would disappear for weeks at a time. The mist slowly cleared to show a large land mass covered by a dense forest. The heavy clouds above, shadowed over the entire area. And at the center was a great ginormous giant mountain.

A collective groan was heard from the group.

"What's wrong?" Valka asked, confused from the group's sudden disappointment.

"Why is it always mountains," Fishlegs ranted, "nothing good ever comes out mountains. The Dragon Queen? lived in a mountain. The egg of the Whispering Death? found in a mountain, The nest of the Alpha Dragon? another mountain. For once why can't we have a nice green clearing. Something that isn't dark, damp, and potentially life threatening.

"When there are big secrets, you need big mountains to hide them away from prying eyes," Valka reasoned. "And this secret is certainly worth hiding under a mountain."

The group followed Valka to the opening at the base of the mountain. Walking through the labyrinth of caverns, the group encountered numerous dragons, crawling on the walls and lurking in the shadows. The dragons eyed the group warily but allowed them to past unperturbed.

"Ummm why are the dragons looking at us funny," Ruffnut asked as she made a face to a baby gronkle that was looking at her funny.

"The dragons are judging you," Valka explained.

"Judging us?" Fishlegs said, as he backed off from the dragons and moved closer to Meatlug.

"No need to worry, if you had been deemed unworthy, the dragons would have attacked you by now," Valka said.

The group exited towards an opening expecting even more dragons. What they hadn't expected, was run down old stone structures, moss growing up along the walls and others plant life. Hundred of buildings that could easily have held thousands of people. But now the buildings held memories, history and markings of an old civilization that once lived.

Weaving in and out of the old stone buildings there was a sense of eerie silence. Their own noises echoed loudly but was never loud of enough to fill the void of silence. The group look for any clues about those who onced lived here but found nothing. The only thing that survived was their legacy of stone and rock.

Following Valka the group was led to a massive wall that easily towered all other structures within the area. Drawings were etched onto the face of the wall.

"When Cloudjumper first brought me here, all those years ago I was amazed just as you all are now. It took me years to understand what happened here, and to translate the etchings of the wall," Valka explained.

"This place holds the origin of vikings. Our ancestors were once a nomadic tribe, until they travelled north and into the archipelago. It was here that our tribe encountered a race known as the Berserkers. The two groups mingled together and in time, our race known as Vikings was born.

"The Berserkers? Do you mean like Dagur and his clan members?" asked Fishlegs.

"No, Dagur and the Berserker clan today are nothing like the original Berserker tribe. I am referring the Berserkers of legend, the red eyed warriors of Odin and the protectors of Asgard. The Berserker's blood flows through all vikings and us as well.

"So why were the protectors of Asgard here on Earth?" Astrid asked. Her interest shooting up ten fold upon hearing about a race of great warriors.

"The answer lies in the next room," Valka said simply as as she signalled them to continue following her and leading them through another cavern. Upon hearing, Valka's words about the next room, Toothless Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf and Belch, took off.

"Where are they running off to?" Tuffnut asked.

"It is for the best that they are not with us in the next room," Valka simply replied.

Exiting the cavern, the group found the largest dragon they have even seen. The dragon was absolutely massive, easily bigger than a Bewilderbeast. It's outer shell or armour had a rock like texture to it and was gray. The ground seemed to shake by the mere presence of the dragon itself as it slept in absolute silence.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce to you Ragnorok, the god of dragons and time."

"Whoa that is so freaking cool!" Snotlout said before Ruffnut smacked him on the back of the head.

"Can you not wake up the god of freaking Dragons" Ruffnut yelled in whispers.

"Oh he won't wake up from a little noise!" Valka yelled, scaring the entire group. The group stared back at Ragnarok but he remained unmoved. "Legend holds that Ragnarok has been sleeping since the beginning of time, and guards the entrance to Earth and Asgard. Ragnarok will only awaken when the great battle of Norse Gods begins, signalling the end of time."

"So you have been helping Ragnarok?" Astrid asked.

"Goodness no! He's the god of all dragons, what help could I possibly be? Although my task is very similar in nature," Valka explained.

"Long ago Odin created a second precautionary measure. Two keys to bridge the world between Asgard and our Earth. The first key is known as the Gem of Ice which allows beings from Asgard to come to Earth. And the second key is known as the Gem of Fire, and allows beings from Earth to come to Asgard."

"And where's the door?" Fishlegs asked.

"Right in front of you," Valka pointed. Resting in front of the sleeping dragon, was a large and ceremonial looking altar. Stairs in the middle that led to the top flat surface of the altars.

"The dragons were originally born from the flesh of Ragnarok and lived in the Passage, the land between Asgard and Earth. The Berserkers were tasked by Odin to guard the Gem of Ice and the Gem of Fire. On their way to Earth and through the Passage, the Berserkers took along the dragons to Earth to aid them in their mission. Years have gone by, with the Berserkers gone and nearly all dragons having forgotten their original purpose.

"So this is what you have been disappearing to mom?," Hiccup asked having been unusually quiet so far during the entire trip, "Carrying on the Berserker's and dragon's mission to guard the keys?"

"Correct Hiccup, in the past week I was up further north, checking up on the Gem of Ice when the base came under siege. Five individuals, that wore dragon masks with heavy cloaks and rode a Snow Wraith, a Nadder, a Rhumblehorn, a Zippleback and a Skrill. I was unable to escape and they took the Gem of Ice.

"What do they want with the Gem of Ice? Or both gems," Astrid asked.

"I don't know. But hopefully without the Gem of Fire, they will be be able to accomplish nothing.

"So where is the Gem of Fire?" Fishlegs asked, "is it somewhere in the mountain?"

"Or better yet, where's the other group so we can kick their buts and take back the Gem," Snotlout commented.

The gem is sitting on the pedestal at the top of the altar," Valka responded as she pointed to the altar that rested underneath Ragnarok.

So how do we protect the gem?" Astrid said, "Can't believe I'm saying this but Snotlout is right. We have to find and stop the other dragon riders. We can't just stay here a guard the mountain for the rest of our lives."

"I don't know how we would find them, at least not at the moment with the Gathering of Great Chiefs that is coming up in a few days." Valka replied, " However, if we are able to secure the Gem of Fire we would be at a stalemate for now and we can think of a solution afterwards."

Looking at Hiccup, Valka directed her son towards the altar to which Hiccup gave an audible gulp.

"Ummm Ragnarok is not going to kill me right? Hiccup said warily.

"You have a knack for dragons Hiccup, Nothing to worry about," Valka said cheerily.

"Don't really think it works with gods," Hiccup mumbled but was pushed forward by Valka before he could argue more.

Giving one last glance to everyone, Hiccup started to move towards the altar. Everyone watched with bated breath as Hiccup neared the altar and simultaneously moving nearer to Ragnorok. Everyone silently prayed that the god of dragon would hopefully not wake up. With each step it felt like Ragnarok doubled in size.

Reaching the top of the altar Hiccup could see two pedestal, one for each gem. The left pedestal was of course empty. The right pedestal contained the Gem of Fire. Between the two pedestals was a stone tablet with etchings similar to the stone wall. The tablet featured two people facing each other and in the middle was Ragnorok, holding the Gem of Ice and Fire. On the bottom was writing that Hiccup couldn't read. Grabbing the Gem of Fire, Hiccup returned to the group.

Without any warning Hiccup tosses the Gem of Fire and without missing a beat, Astrid snatches it out of the air and twirled the necklace around her fingers.

"More jewelry, Hiccup? You shouldn't have," Astrid gushed in fake enthusiasm. As she inspected the gem.

"Keep it safe. As we fly out of here I want everyone to fly in Night Terror Formation." Hiccup directed.

"You've been quiet this entire time and now all of a sudden you are telling us what to do?' Snotlout said.

"Something doesn't feel right. They've should have gotten here first, where are they? They could be planning and waiting for an opportunity to assault the mountain. The transition from the mountain to Berk is when the Gem of Fire will be most vulnerable. The moment we leave they will probably attack us. Me riding a Nightfury would be the most obvious candidate for having the gem. They will probably recognize my mother so they might target her as well. Astrid along with Stormfly is the best choice.

"Well like you said, you are riding a Nightfury, why not use that speed for something useful and blast right through them," Tuffnut asked.

"Or better yet, why don't we just fight?" Snotlout said.

"If they do end up catching up to Toothless, then we would be separated from everyone else and it would be too late for you all to help. And we shouldn't fight because we don't know what we are up against. I can't afford to miss the meeting. We need to get back to Berk and we will deal with them afterwards. I will be the bait and during all the commotion, we will make it look like I have the gem while Astrid and Stormfly find an opportunity to sneak away.

The group returned to their dragons, mounted on top of them and prepared to ride. "Remember stay on your guard and be prepared," Hiccup said as Toothless took off and everyone followed closely behind. Exiting the mountain to the gloomy and still dark skies, the group kept their eyes open and watched their surroundings.

A loud dragon roar was heard, originating from above the group. Looking up there was nothing to be seen but dark clouds. But suddenly a hole opens up in the clouds. The sun rays escaped through the hole and blinded the group. Squinting through the light, Hiccup could make out dark figures emerge from the hole of the cloud, approaching them at full speed.

"Scatter!" Hiccup yelled. The disoriented group, although blinded was still able to follow Hiccup's order. Flying in all directions, the group reacted just in time to narrowly dodge the fireballs. Exiting from the sun ray, Toothless let out a low growl, not particularly happy of being nearly blinded. Doing what a Night Fury did best, Toothless flew. With great and powerful flaps of his wings Hiccup and Toothless , climbed upwards along the edge of the sun ray. Dodging a few more fireballs, Toothless continued to climb until he passed, the enemy group. Well above them now, Toothless flew upside down, while Hiccup hung on. Looking down, the chief assessed the situation for best course of action.

The enemy group had continued downward towards his friends while the Snow Wraith stopped and his partner looked up towards Hiccup. Spinning downwards, Toothless executed his signature dive bomb attack, to which the Snow Wraith countered with his own ice blast.

Using their superior speed Toothless flew circle around the Snow Wraith. Any ice blasts from the Snow Wraith cleanly missed the Night Fury, while the Snow Wraith struggled to dodge Toothless' own plasma shots.

Letting out a loud roar, the belly of the Snow Wraith glowed as it let out a wide cone of icy mist. Leading his icy breath in front of Toothless' flight trajectory, the Night Fury did not have enough time to dodge as he flew right through it. Exiting the icy mist, the Snow Wraith let out another blast of icy mist that Toothless could not avoid. Flying out of the mist the second time, Hiccup knew that something was wrong.

The strong wings against his face and the screeching sound of the wind had stopped, Toothless was slowing down. Roughly shaking himself, Toothless tried to lose whatever it that was slowing himself down. Looking around Hiccup saw the problem, ice had started to build up on Toothless' wings locking the range of motion that Toothless could do with his wings and simultaneously weighing Toothless down. The Viking Chief could feel the frost building on his armor and constricted his movement like he was underwater. Hiccup and Toothless were in trouble if they didn't do something soon.

OoOoO

Astrid watched as Hiccup and Toothless charged at their enemies and watched as four of the dragons ignored the alpha pair, and headed down towards them. The plan was for Snotlout, Ruff, Tuff, Hookfang, Barf and Belch to distract their enemies, while Astrid, Stormfly, Fishlegs, Meatlug Valka, and Cloudjumper escape. The plan was a solid one as usual for Hiccup. But there was one major problem with Hiccup's plan as per usual. Nobody ever follows the plan. At least, not the first time. Astrid spotted her one true objective.

"Let's go Stormfly!" The blue dragon cawed before breaking off from the group. Likewise Ruff Tuff, Barf and Belch broke off from the group as well. From behind Astrid could hear Valka yelling to stick to the plan. But Astrid was sticking to the plan, her plan, the one that formed the moment she heard that there was a dragon rider with a Deadly Nadder.

This was one of the rare opportunities to improve. Hiccup and Toothless were a bunch of cheats and was too big of a hurdle. Meatlug and Fishlegs were a pair of pacifists. Heather and Sharpshoot are never around. Ruff and Tuff are too busy fighting each other. And Snotlout won't ever shut up. Here was an opportunity to improve. After this was over, Astrid would be one step closer to Hiccup.

In game of cat and mouse, Astrid synced her movements with Stormfly, to chase the other Nadder. In a battle of aerial dominance, the Nadders ducked and dived between the clouds. Stormfly approached from above, letting loose a fireball, causing the other fleeing Nadder to stop. The two Nadders, flew around each other, creating a circle, as they exchanged two fireballs each. Both riders, aware of the Nadder's six shot limit and were careful to use each one sparingly. But all dragons have more than one trick up their sleeve.

"Stormfly, spine shot!," Astrid shouted. Opening her tailed plumage, Stormfly flung her tail and let loose three spines. The enemy Nadder spun upwards and countered with its own spines, clashing with Stormfly's spines mid flight. The enemy Nadder took off into the clouds once more and Stormfly gave chase. The clouds diminished Astrid's vision but no way was she letting her prey get away. Spotting the other Nadder escaping the clouds, Astrid directed her partner to exit the clouds.

A gaseous smell broke Astrid out of her concentration. Swivelling her head, Astrid located the source to be a large green cloud of gas. "_Oh no_," Astrid thought, "_the twins can't be that crazy_," But her question was quickly answered as the green gas ignited. The resulting explosion and aftershock, drop two Deadly Nadders and two Zipplebacks from the sky.

OoOoO

"What about the plan!" Fishlegs yelled out. His words were futile, as he watched Astrid, Ruffnut and Tuffnut break off.

"Honestly, what a bunch a children," Snotlout said with a voice of superiority with his arms crossed as Hookfang flew up to Meatlug's left.

"We won't be able to keep up with Astrid and Stormfly," Valka said, as Cloudjunper flew next to Meatlug's right, "It will be up to the six of us to deal with the Skrill and Rhumblehorn"

"But the Skrill, has a power of fourteen and armor of ten. It's power is capable of matching even a Nightfury!" Fishlegs cried.

"Not to worry old chum," Snotlout said without a hint of fear as he flexed his arms. "So long as the great Snotlout and Hookfang are here you have nothing to fear!"

Hookfang, with his large wings, suddenly took wind and charged at the enemy before Snotlout could say anything else. On the other side the Rhumblehorn responded in kind and started charging towards the Nightmare.

"What are you doing Hookfang!" Snotlout yelled, but Hookfang didn't listen as he continued to charge through Snotlout's screaming. The two pairs drew closer and closer to one another with neither dragons slowing down or backing out.

Mere seconds before impact with the Rhumblehorn, Hookfang, swivelled underneath the boulder type dragon. Coming from behind, Hookfang latched onto to the top of the Rhumblehorn's wings. The extra weight of a Nightmare in addition to having it's wings constrained was too much for the Rhumblehorn as the two riders and two dragons plummeted from the sky as Hookfang refused to let go.

Fishlegs and Valka, were completely dumbfounded at what just happened.

"Okay new plan. The four of us will have to deal with the Skrill and its rider," Valka observed.

"Still not liking our odds," Fishlegs said.

"There is nothing to worry about. With the Skrill's rider on top, it will be unable to attack with it's lightning strikes." As if having heard Valka's words, the masked dragon rider jumped off his dragon. Free from the fear of hurting its rider, The Skrill climbed to the clouds and started charging itself with lightning. Meatlug and Cloudjumper barely had enough time to scramble before beams of lightning came towards them.

"Valka what do we do!" Fishlegs said as he ducked to another beam of lightning that flew over his head.

"Only Toothless and Hiccup will have any chance of dealing with the Skrill," Valka said. "I will distract the Skrill while you find them."

"But you and Cloudjumper are still injured,"

"All the more reasons why it should be Cloudjumper and I. We won't be able to last in this fight for much longer. Might as well make the best of what we have left. Now go!" Valka said. Not waiting for Fishlegs to respond, Valka urged Cloudjumper forward. Noticing them approach, the Skrill directed its attack towards Cloudjumper.

The closer they approached, the more difficult it was to dodge the beams of lightning. The injuries from her previous engagement with these masked riders was finally taking its toll. Miscalculating an attack, Cloudjumper was forced to take a sharp turn but it wasn't enough. The beam of lightning grazed the left side of Cloudjumper. At the same time Valka was flung off the back of Cloudjumper by the sheer force of Cloudjumper's evasive maneuver.

"_Sorry everyone, Hiccup. It's all up to the rest of you now_" Valka apologized as she and Cloudjumper helplessly fell from the sky.

OoOoO

"_Things are quickly going downhill,_" Hiccup thought as Toothless narrowly dodged an ice blast without the usual grace and ease that Toothless and Hiccup were known for. Another iceblast approached them from the front. Hiccup kicked the pedal turning the back fin and steering Toothless left. Toothless at the same time tried to turn right. The resulting conflict sent the both of them in a downward spiral. Gritting his teeth in frustration Hiccup worked together with Toothless, to bring themselves upright. The frost had shackled and slowed Toothless significantly, which had an unexpected effect on their synchronization. The pair was simply not used to going so slow.

Toothless still had his secret ace, but it wasn't time to use it yet. They needed to get closer and wait for an opening. Off in the distance a large gaseous green explosion nearly blinded Hiccup, but he kept his focus on the Snow Wraith and dragon rider who had been distracted by the large explosion created by the two Zipplebacks.

"Now Toothless," Hiccup yelled upon seeing his opportunity. Letting out a roar, the Nightfury, started to glow blue, and entered Alpha Mode. The frost on Toothless' body quickly melted and turned into steam. No longer shackled, Toothless and Hiccup dived towards their opponents. The Snow Wraith was completely caught off guard as Toothless let loose a plasma shot. The Snow Wraith tried to counter with its own ice blast but it was already too late. The two blasts collided and created a massive explosion in front of the Snow Wraiths face and enveloping the ice dragon.

Hiccup let out a sigh, releasing his fatigue from the intense fight. But the battle wasn't over yet.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs called out, as Meatlug flew up to Toothless' side.

"Fishlegs what's the situation," Hiccup said.

"We need help with the Skrill, Hiccup," Fishlegs said, pointing towards the south.

Taking off in the direction the Fishlegs pointed, Hiccup and Toothless in his Alpha Mode spotted the lightning covered Skrill in mere seconds. The Skrill had spotted them as well. Charging up, the Skrill took in its surrounding and discharged a beam of lightning at Toothless and Hiccup.

With Toothless' speed return, the original dragon and rider pair, gracefully and efficiently dodged each shot until they were directly above the Skrill. Toothless let loose another devastating plasma shot point blank at the Skrill as they flew by.

"Yea nice going Toothless!," Hiccup cheered as they circled back . Toothless warbled in glee as they spun in circles.

"Watch out Hiccup!" Fishlegs yelled. Taken off guard Hiccup and Toothless were unprepared for the ice blast that flew towards them. Meatlug flew in front of Toothless, taking the full power of the iceblast. With half of Meatlug's body completely frozen, the boulder dragon was unable to maintain flight with only one wing and started to spiral downward.

"Fishlegs!" Hiccup called out, as he watched helplessly. Fishlegs tried the break the ice off of Meatlug but it was hopeless. Hiccup wanted to help but it was too dangerous, not with a dragon still on the loose. Looking around Hiccup located the source of the ice blast. The Snow Wraith and dragon rider slightly charred in the front from the blast, flew straight at Toothless and Hiccup.

Clutching the reins in anger, Hiccup and Toothless charged at the Snow Wraith at full speed.

"We only have one more shot Toothless, Let's make it count," Hiccup said in a low whisper as he lowered his body.

The Snow Wraith and Night Fury flew towards each other, neither dragons showing any signs of weakness. Summoning what little energy they have left, The two dragons let loose one final blast. The exchanging blast flew past one another and took a direct hit on each of the dragons.

The world around Hiccup was spinning. The winds and Toothless' roar screeched around him in his ear. Igniting his blade, Hiccup swung at the frozen wing as hard as he could. Slowly Hiccup chipped away at the ice with each swing but it wasn't enough. There wasn't enough time in the seconds that they have left to reach the ground. But Hiccup wasn't about to leave his best friend helpless. And so the last pair of dragon riders and dragons fell from the sky.

* * *

Author End notes: Proof reading is boring especially if its because of a stupid auto correct. What little effort that I have I would like spend on furthering the story. You can just pm if you feel like helping.

Typo Helper: warofpeace

Cover page by Mistress of the Snow

Reviews, Favorites and Follows are welcome and appreciated


	15. Chapter 15

Starting Notes: I had midterms, so I had to delay the release of this chapter. Sorry everyone

* * *

Chapter 15

Popping his head from the thick bush of leaves, Hiccup pulled himself up to the top branches of the tree. Teetering himself outwards, Hiccup methodically snapped the thinner and longer branches of the tree. With a loud snap, Hiccup dropped the branches carelessly down on to the ground. Once the task was complete, Hiccup climbed down but not before almost falling as per usual clumsy Hiccup. Gathering up all the branches Hiccup quickly ran back to the crash site.

The crash site was a sight to behold. Looking up you could see the dragon shaped hole that Toothless made in a view of endless green. On the ground you could see the upturned ground and bushes, the trail of Toothless' landing. Broken trees and branches were littered everywhere. And at the centre of it all was his best friend.

"Hey Toothless, how are you feeling?" Hiccup asked. Laying down where Toothless initially crashed, the Night Fury could do nothing but a let out a low grumble.

"I know buddy, let's get that wing fixed up," Hiccup said. Reaching into the saddle, Hiccup grabbed out some rope and a case of dragon balm. Opening the lid, Hiccup rubbed the dragon balm onto the damaged wing. In tandem with the branches, Hiccup stinted Toothless' wing.

"Common buddy it's time to get up. We need to find the others." Hiccup said as he ducked himself underneath Toothless' wing and supported his dragon.

Taking it slow, Hiccup and Toothless struggled their way through the forest, praying that they wouldn't half to go uphill. They had to take many breaks but in a couple of hours, they made it to the rendezvous point, to an open clearing where Valka was nervously pacing.

"Hiccup! Are you alright?" Valka said as she noticed the pair exit the forest. Running to Hiccup, Valka wrapped her son into a hug.

"I'm fine mom but Toothless's wing is damaged," Hiccup mumbled into her mother's chest as waved his arms and struggled for air. Hands on her shoulder Hiccup poked his head out of Valka's vice like grip.

"Toothless is most likely going to be out of commission for awhile. How is everyone else doing?" Hiccup asked.

"It's the same story for everyone else," Snotlout said as he appeared from out of nowhere. Hookfang and Cloudjumper emerged limping out of the forest but not before bumping into trees before collapsing into the ground.

"What happened up there? Did Astrid manage to get away with the relic?" Hiccup asked, frowning at the extent to which their dragons were injured.

"Astrid decided to ignore the plan and stayed to fight," Snotlout said his disapproval leaking from his voice.

"From what I could tell the fight ended in a draw. I don't think any dragon will be flying for awhile." Valka's chimed in, her years of dragon wisdom and experience talking.

"Where's Astrid?" Hiccup asked doing his best to control his anger.

"Hiding from you," Snotlout said, "you don't look all too happy right now."

"There's nothing to be happy about. Astrid probably knew she wanted to fight. But chose to say nothing, and disobeyed orders." Hiccup said as he scratched his hair in frustration. In less than a day things have gone from being stressful to being even more stressful. The only thing Hiccup had to worry about was the gathering chiefs and now he was stuck on an island fighting against an unknown group of people.

"Where's Ruff and Tuff?" Hiccup asked as he pulled his head up.

"Hiding from Astrid." Valka replied, "Turns out a fight between two Zipplebacks can be quite explosive and Astrid and Stormfly was caught in the middle of it. Luckily everyone managed to come out of the explosion relatively okay and the twins are around here somewhere"

"And Fishlegs?" Hiccup continued.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen Fishlegs or Meatlug anywhere." Valka's replied.

Hiccup's eyes widened, his anger lit upon hearing his mother's words.

"Astrid, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, quit screwing around and get out here now!" Hiccup yelled, having lost all of his patience.

Slowly and timidly, the three deviants came out of the forest along with an injured Stormfly, Barf and Belch.

"Have any of you seen Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked in audibly controlled rage.

The three solemnly shook their heads, their eyes stared at the ground as they refused to look at the chief in the eye.

Hiccup looks at them with a discerning eye as they squirmed from his gaze. Without bothering to say anything else, Hiccup walked away from the group.

"Stay here and take care of the dragons, I am going to find Fishlegs," Hiccup told his mother as he walked past her. Walking by his best friend, Hiccup gave Toothless a comforting pat on the head to which Toothless leaned into before he walked away from the group.

Astrid made a move to go after Hiccup but was quickly grabbed by the hand. Turning her head around, Astrid saw Valka shaking his head.

"This might not have happened if I just stuck to the plan. This is my fault I need to go after him and apologize," Astrid said.

"Hiccup is the chief, the only person he blames is himself, no matter what you say. Right now, Hiccup needs to be alone," Valka said he she watched her son disappear into the forest.

OoOoO

Asmund, leader of the rough band of dragon riders, carelessly tossed aside his snow wraith mask. His face to the sky, the young man inhaled deeply grateful for finally being able to breathe. The masks were great for protection against the heat and cold but no so much for breathing. With a single hand, Asmund tossed his flattened auburn hair. Opening his equally auburn eyes, he took in the beautiful view of the lake with his beautiful wife sitting with her knees to her chest by the lake side.

"Yrivanna," Asmund greeted as he sat down next to his wife. He could see that she was deep in thought as her freckles shifted slightly up from her tense expression, and a dark shadow underneath her steely eyes.

The past weeks has certainly been stressful and has affected his friends in various ways. For Yrivanna it was the loss of sleep. Her hair, which Yrivanna kept religiously short had started to grow past her shoulders, and it seemed she had yet to notice. Asmund could only pray that when it was all over, they would be able to move on with their lives.

"A Night Fury," Yrivanna mumbled as she leaned against her husband and breaking Asmund from his own train of thought, " A damn Night Fury. We are so lucky that we all managed to get out alive."

"In retrospect, attacking the other group of dragon riders without any information was not a great idea. Getting greedy and attacking them was a mistake when we should have just ignored them and went for the ritual." Asmund agreed.

"Although, had we won the fight and possessed both the Gem of Fire and Gem of Ice, the success of the ritual would have been guaranteed and it would confirm that our mission is a part of destiny."

"It has always been our destiny. Our mission was given to us the moment we were born even if we or anyone else knew." Yrivanna stated, "Although growing up and training, we didn't expect to be fighting other dragon riders. I guess that's what happens when your village is hidden away for hundreds of years,"

"The Archipelago certainly much more different from what we were taught as kids," Asmund agreed.

"Which is why I want to see the world that we never got to see growing up. To travel and see what life has to offer. Not just with you, but all our friends too." Yrivanna said.

"And we will," Asmund promised, "Just as soon as we complete our mission and return our friends and all the other dragons home.

"So we will switch to plan B then?" Yrivanna asked.

"Yes, we will commence the trial and one of us will become a guardian." Asmund said.

"Then good luck to you my dear husband, may the better warrior win," Yrivanna said and kissing him on the cheek. Getting up she patted the dirt off her trouser and wordlessly headed back the the camp, leaving her husband behind.

Staring back at her wife. Asmund couldn't help but chuckle.

"May the better warrior win she says. Good luck she says," Asmund repeated, "_I haven't beaten her since we were little kids_," As the sun began to set, Asmund got up and chased after his wife. Their new guest should be waking up soon.

OoOoO

Fishleg's consciousness slowly woke up, enveloped in darkness. His thoughts in a daze, the only sensations he could feel was his own body. His chest tightened and his breathing stopped as he struggled to move. One second became two and a third. Fishlegs needed to breathe. His heart started beating faster as he tried to move. The pulses of his mind went down his body, but his body refused to move. Panic and darkness slowly swelled in his body until it finally.

"Hughh" Fishlegs gasped as he bolted upright, desperately taking in the sensation of finally being able to breathe. The next second was met with great regret, as pain swept over his body.

"Woah" A mysterious person said, kneeling down next to Fishlegs "don't move too much, you have a few broken bones."

"Where am I? Where's Meatlug" Fishlegs managed to get out through the pain. Slowly he becoming more aware of his surroundings as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the fire at the center the only source of light.

"You took a nasty crash. We've sheltered you inside a cave for the night and a friend of mine is currently taking care of your dragon."

"Are you?" Fishlegs asked hesitantly, to his knowledge there were only two groups of people on the island.

"No I wasn't the one who shot you down, although I am with the group that you were fighting with earlier. My name is Sigrid by the way and my partner is the Rhumblehorn.

His vision clearing, Fishlegs could get a better picture of the man known as Sigrid. He was a boulder like man with a shaved beard, his unkempt red hair was tied into a loose ponytail. He was certainly not the man he expected to be his enemy.

"My name is Fishlegs. What's going to happen to Meatlug and I now? Fishlegs asked.

"For now, nothing. We haven't actually decided on what to do with you. It's going to take you weeks for your injuries to heal Fishlegs, for now you should try to get some rest. Fishlegs visibly relaxed at those reassuring words. Unable to do anything else Fishleg let out a sigh, he allowed himself to be consumed by the darkness once more.

Sigrid washed his hands, before quickly wiping them with a towel. He checked on the new guest, now known as Fishlegs before leaving the cave. There was no fear of Fishlegs going anywhere with the extent of injuries that he sustained.

Sigrid looked up at the starry night sky. The high winds, managed to pick up the clouds letting the beautiful moon to dazzle amongst the star. Lined up along the side to the entrance of the cave were their dragons. Kneeling down, Sigrid checked up on Fishleg's sleeping Gronkle before checking his Rhumblehorn.

His dragon was certainly more durable than other dragons. But when a Nightmare attaches itself on top of your Rhumblehorn and you drop from the sky, than some injuries were inevitable. Shaking his head, Sigrid couldn't help but think how crazy the Nightmare and it's rider was. Seeing that his Rhumblehorn was sleeping soundly, Sigrid got up and returned to camp.

The fire roared, as he sat down on a log, his friends had already gathered and were already eating whatever they could scavenge.

"So how is our guest doing?" Frida asked as she passed Sigrid some berries.

As the oldest one, Frida has taken up the role of mother for the group. A caring attitude for all life, but wasn't impervious to little bouts of craziness. Apparent with her battle with the other Zippleback. Yrivanna kept saying that she and her Nadder could still feel the vibrations of the explosion that the two Zipplebacks created.

"Our guest's name is Fishlegs, and he is going to be fine." Sigrid answered.

"Did you learn anything new about this group of dragon riders Sigrid? Where they got the dragons? Who they are?" Jorgeg asked. On the complete opposite end of the group spectrum, Jorgeg was the youngest of the group with a tousled blond hair without the angular face of an adult.

"He was not awake for very long for any sort of questioning," Sigrid replied.

"So what do we do? Our dragons are in no condition to fight" Jorgeg said.

"I doubt that their dragons are faring any better," Asmund chipped in.

"So what now?" Frida asked.

"We have no choice but to keep on fighting," Asmund answered. A collective groan was heard amongst the group. A pregnant pause washed over the group as they contemplated their dislike of fighting.

Sigrid let out a small chuckle and breaking the silence before saying, "I wonder how much the elders regret picking us for the mission."

"The laughing stock of the entire Berserker Tribe," Jorgeg quoted in a dramatic fashion.

A hidden village of the direct descendants of the Berserkers. Biding their time, until the time they would retake stewardship of the dragons.

For a race of warriors created by Odin, it was no mystery that the most unwarrior like individuals of the Berserker Tribe, would end up bonded together through shared experiences and values. But the biggest mystery was how the group was selected to travel out into the world, to regain control of the dragons.

"We were never meant to be warriors and we still aren't now. Maybe we should return home and ask the elders to pick other people?" Frida said.

"We promised each other that we would never return to that village ever again. There is a whole world out there to explore, and the last place I want to go is back home," Yrivanna said her voice quavering over the thought of returning to that accursed place.

"So where does that leave us then?" Jorgeg asked in a hoarse whisper.

"To finish the mission," Asmund stated, "Like it or not we are still Berserkers, this is our mission to carry out. Whether we fail or not we must do so to honor our ancestors."

Hearing their leader's conviction, and inspiring words. Like so many times before, a fire was rekindled in the eyes of his friends, determined to stick with their leader to the bitter end.

Standing up Asmund grabbed a stick and started drawing on the floor.

"The Gem of Fire is not the priority at the moment. What we need is uninterrupted access to the altar so that we can perform the ritual." Asmund said while the others listened with rapt attention.

And over the roaring fire, under the starry night and moon, the unlikely band of Berserkers discussed their next plan.

OoOoO

Deep shadows covered the forest, in the early mornings, the dragon riders trekked forward. The previous night a Terrible Terror came into their camp and delivered them a package.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Hiccup?" Astrid asked, as the grouped headed towards the meetup point.

"We don't have much of a choice. They have Fishleg's dragon cards. They are the only lead we have to finding FIshlegs and Meatlug." Hiccup responded

"And what if they want to trade them for the Gem of Fire for their lives?" Snotlout asked.

"We will have to go to plan B. My mother will wait for my signal to release the flashes. We will only have a small timing window to get Fishlegs back. So stay focus and no screwing around," Hiccup said giving a pointed look at everyone, making sure that everyone will follow the plan.

Everyone nodded their heads in understanding as Valka and Ruffnut silently broke off from the group to get into position.

Exiting the forest into a clearing, they patiently waited for the other group to arrive. They did not have wait long. A low rumbling, the sound of wood rolling on ground, was heard from the north and out emerged three masked figures, the skrill and rhumblehorn masked rider was pushing the cart. The zippleback masked person led from the front. On top of the cart rested Fishlegs and Meatlug.

Even from afar, Hiccup and the others could tell, just how bad Fishlegs and Meatlug condition was. Covered in bandages, Fishlegs laid unmoving as has slid and shifted around from the rumblings of the cart.

"Thank you for taking care of Fishlegs and Meatlug. They might not have survived through the night." Hiccup said as he separated from the group and approached the cart

"It is no problem at all," the Zippleback's voice echoed before reaching the ears of Hiccup, "But of course we did not all for free."

Shifting his gaze back to Fishlegs, Hiccup debated on whether or not to spring the trap now. Subtly Hiccup shifted his gaze past the mysterious groups of riders and past the cart, to the unknowns of the forest. "_Where were the other two riders_," Hiccup asked himself. With so little information, springing the trap would be too preemptive. Hiccup needed to get closer.

"What are your terms?" Hiccup asked as he returned focus to the masked Zippleback.

"The deal is we give you back your friends, and you let us go for free," the zippleback replied, as the young women shifted and placed her hand on her hips.

"What suddenly not interested in the Gem of Fire?" Astrid asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Oh we want it," the woman replied. "But we are outnumbered with you five or six to our three. You could easily just attack us once you have your friend back" the woman reasoned.

"Well there is five of you, so where's the other two?" Snotlout asked, having drawn the same suspicions as Hiccup.

"Injured like your friend here," the woman replied. "So do we have a deal or not?"

Something didn't quite add up to Hiccup, Glancing over to Astrid, he could see that Astrid also had not dropped her guard or suspicion. Her eyes darted from left to right for any signs of danger. Ruffnut who was acting as scout, also did not shoot out a flare to warn them of any danger. Hiccup had already swept the area for any traps prior to the meeting but found nothing. But something still felt wrong.

"_Why trade Fishlegs and Meatlug for their own safety?" If they cared for their safety, then why set up a meeting at all?"_ Hiccup asked himself, "_They could have just left them somewhere for us to pick up_."

"Well that was a huge waste of effort" Tuffnut commented, disappointed that there was going to be no action.

A light lit up inside Hiccup's head at the words of Tuffnut. "Wasted effort." The other dragon riders wanted this meeting. Wanted to have Hiccup's focus entirely on this meeting. The mountain! They had pulled them away them from the mountain!

Hands to his mouth, Hiccup let out a high pitched whistle. From the cover the trees Valka pulled the string and fire shot out of their canister covering the entire area in blinding light.

"Get fishlegs!" Hiccup yelled before turning around and taking off back towards the mountain.

"Hiccup?" Astrid yelled before instinctually chasing after him.

"He's running away!" Sigrid said,

"After him!" Jorgeg said. Sprinting to chase after Hiccup but he was quickly blocked off.

Snotlout posturing, placed himself between Jorgeg and Hiccup.

"You're not going anywhere" Snotlout said, as Tuffnut moved next to him. Ruffnut and Valka emerged from the trees and put themselves in a protective position for Fishlegs.

"What do we do now," Frida whispered, her back to Sigrid and Jorgeg.

"We will just have to hold the ones here and trust in Asmund and Yrivanna," Sigrid whispered back.

Weapons in hand, the frantics movements of the two parties came to a complete stand still as they stared down each other. Neither group was willing to make the first move.

Leaping over a crevasse, Hiccup raced towards the mountain. The voice of Astrid fell on deaf ears, as Hiccup continued to run. The entire meeting was a setup, a diversion for something else. Something that was more important than the Gem of Fire.

* * *

Author's end notes: Slightly shorter chapter but we get a better picture of who are these new group of dragon riders. Might go back and expand if I think of something interesting for them.

Typo Helper:

Cover page by Mistress of the Snow

Reviews, Favorites and Follows are welcome and appreciated


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Starting notes: Need to use this line so that the stupid chapter title will be centered.

* * *

Chapter 16

Jerome and Yrivanna, shifted precariously along the ledge, one leg shifting out after the next, slowly progressing forward. Their weights sticking to the back of the wall as they looked up, wary of any falling rocks. The high winds threatened to push them off the ledge. Moving to a reachable cliff edge, The pair jumped, latched onto the edge and pulled themselves up.

Quickly dusting himself off of any stray rocks and pebbles, Asmund looked towards the entrance of the mountain.

"We should be deep enough, we won't have to worry about any dragons from this point on," Asmund said as he slowly regained his breath. In the back of his mind, he prayed that he would never have to make such a treacherous climb ever again.

"Will our friends be okay?" Yrivanna said frowning. Staring out into the distance, she looked to the meeting point for any signs of trouble but could only see the green treetops. "Right about now would be the time that our friends will be meeting with the other dragon riders."

Of course it was all a distraction, to pull the other group's focus and to pull them away from the mountain. If they were to catch onto their plan, Yrivanna prayed that her friends would be able to get away.

"They will be fine," Asmund reassured. In his head he knew that at this point, it was too late to worry about his friends, "we should be focusing on the task at hand."

Asmund reached for Yrivanna's hand and gave her a comforting squeeze. Pulling her gaze away, Yrivanna could only give a nod and a small sound of affirmation. Together they raced towards the entrance and into the mountain.

Asmund and Yrivanna ran through the caverns for far too long. What they had hoped would be minutes turned to hours. The pair silently cursed their elders. Centuries of knowledge from their ancient Berserker ancestors, passed down from generation to generation and not one of them was a single map or general layout of the mountain.

The mountain was a maze to them. They would be running forwards, but the endless tunnel would have them running backwards. In the pure darkness, there was no markings to hint of where they are. Eventually lady fate graced the pair with mercy.

"There!" Asmund pointed towards the exit with a light at the end of the tunnel and raced off with Yrivanna trailing behind.

Yrivanna quickly changed her running direction and chased after her husband. A feeling of excitement reverberated throughout her body, as they reached closer towards the exit and ran with renewed enthusiasm.

A crack in the air was heard. Yrivanna's ears pricked as she reacted instinctively to the sound and sprinted forward.

"Watch out!" Yrivanna yelled, shoving Asmund forward as an axe flew by and between their bodies. Looking in the direction where the axe came from, the pair saw Hiccup and Astrid charging at them.

Asmund landed on his hand and rolled away as Hiccup ignited his blade. Covered by Hiccup, Astrid ran past Hiccup and Yrivanna to retrieve her axe. With his blade raised high, Hiccup swung at Yrivanna.

Sparks and embers flew as metal clashed on metal.

Bracing herself, Yrivanna deflected Hiccup's blade with her dagger. With her free left hand, she pulled out a second dagger from her backside, and took a downward swing at Hiccup. Her attacker, however, was undeterred by his exposed head, as he stepped in closer to Yrivanna and grabbed her left wrist with his left hand.

Yrivanna tried to pull her left hand away, but Hiccup's vice like grip was too much. Using her faster right hand with the faster recovery, Yrivanna thrust her dagger forward.

His right hand holding his blade was not fast enough, Hiccup had no time to counter. Holding her left hand, Hiccup shoved Yrivanna back, throwing her off balance. The loss of balance, altered the direction of the dagger just enough for Hiccup to jump back but the tip of the blade still made contact with skin and nicked a cut on Hiccup's cheek.

Regaining her balance Yrivanna regrouped, with Asmund. Their backs to each other, the action came to a standstill as Asmund faced off against Hiccup and Yrivanna faced off against Astrid.

Wiping the blood off his cheek Hiccup had his blade ready to strike once more.

"What are you doing here? What do you want to do with the Gems of Fire and Ice?" Astrid asked, her battle axe raised forward and itching for action.

"Centuries ago our ancestors, the Berserkers brought the dragons to Earth. It is time to send the dragons home. As the direct ancestors and stewards, we will use the Gems of Fire and Ice to complete the covenant long ago created by Ragnorok, to bring the dragons to the land between Asgard and Earth," Asmund replied.

"And what if some of the dragons don't want go back?" Hiccup asked.

"That is neither an option nor is it their choice. All dragons must return home." Asmund stated.

"Dragons are our friends, we will make it an option," Astrid threatened.

"If you truly cared about dragons, than you would not be interfering with our mission. The dragons are simply too powerful to be allowed to exist on our world. Not now, maybe not even decades, but eventually, they will be used for their power. They are fated to be tools of war, " Asmund said.

"We won't let that happen, We can move past all the wars and fighting. A gathering of all the vikings chiefs and everyone from the archipelago. We can show everyone how to coexist with the dragons for a better future for everyone.

"A naive solution, that will only lead to death." Yrivanna mumbled.

"I refuse to give up without even trying," Hiccup said.

Asmund carefully watched Hiccup's response and was on guard for any sudden movements from Hiccup. His green eyes, unwavering from his response, eyes full of conviction and strength. He knew those eyes well. He saw it everyday with Yrivanna.

"Than it looks like we have no choice but to fight." Asmund said as he and Yrivanna took off towards the exit with Hiccup and Astrid quickly chasing after them.

Running through the ancient city of the Berserkers, Asmund and Yrivanna ran their separate ways hoping to lose their pursuers in between the tall buildings. Hiccup ran left after Asmund while Astrid dashed right to chase after Yrivanna.

Yrivanna vaulted through a window and ran up two flights of stairs. The sound of Astrid's heavy footsteps trailing closely behind. Jumping through a window, Yrivanna landed on top of a roof.

Hopping from rooftop to rooftop and travelling across the expansive ancient city. Yrivanna let out a yelp as the rooftop she landed on gave weigh and she fell through the roof. Yrivanna landed on her hands and feet, splinters of wood splattered all across the floor. She had a brief moment of reprieve before rolling away from her position.

Astrid came jumping through the rooftop hole and landed with a thump.

Yrivanna silently cursed as she found herself stuck in a dead end. In front, left, and right. The only exit was the stairs directly behind Astrid. Slightly out of breath, Astrid returned to her full height and faced her opponent with a feral grin. As if a cat that had caught a mouse.

Backed up against the wall, Yrivanna clenched her teeth as she relented to the fact that she was forced to fight. "My name is Yrivanna, it is a pleasure to meet you warrior," she greeted as she pulled up her dagger at the ready.

"Astrid Hofferson, " the shieldmaiden of Berk replied, as her leather gloves gripped onto her battle axe tighter"

OoOoO

"_Where is Yrivanna? She should have been her by now_," Asmund thought as he entered Ragnorok's domain. Despite the stories passed down by his ancestors from generation to generation, Asmund was not prepared for the true splendor that was the God of all dragons.

Blended into the mountain itself, it was as if Ragnorok was a part of the mountain. A being so large that a single twitch from the beyond worldly dragon could bring mountains down.

Asmund gave short bow to the slumbering dragon God, but was quickly interrupted as he heard the distinctive, sound of metal hitting ground. Looking back, Asmund could see that Hiccup had finally caught up to him.

"_It's too late now. I guess I have no choice but to do the ritual without her_," Asmund thought.

Getting up off his knees, Asmund ran across the cavern and up the stairs to the altar. Moments later, Hiccup reached the top and the cauldrons around the altar lit up. The large and sudden radiant light from the burst of flames nearly blinded the pair. The mountain itself seemed to respond as it began to rumble and loose rocks fell from the ceiling.

Completely taken by surprised Hiccup lowered himself, prepared for any more surprises.

"_I may not be able to beat Yrivanna, but with my ace I should be at least be able to beat him_," Asmund thought.

"What's happening" Hiccup asked, as he looked warily at Asmund.

"We have begun the ritual before the God of dragons Ragnarok. Neither of us can leave until the ritual has ended. We will fight and we will be judged by Ragnarok. Whomsoever is deemed worthy will be granted stewardship and control over the fate of dragons."

"And if one or both us is deemed unworthy?" Hiccup asked in a near hoarse whisper, not liking the situation he suddenly found himself in.

"Do you have the Gem of Fire?" Asmund asked. Reaching down his neck, Asmund pulled a string and revealed his Gem of Ice, that rested comfortably around his neck.

Hiccup eyed the Gem of Ice warily before nodding to Asmund, as he mirrored Asmund and pulled out the Gem of Fire."

"Good, so long as you have the Gem of Fire and I have the Gem of Ice, our unworthiness will be a non factor and our survival is guaranteed." Asmund explained.

Hiccup eyed the tapestry once more and recalled his memories of yesterday. The first time he had looked upon the tapestry, the carvings made no sense. But now everything was made clear. The carvings of two warriors facing off before Ragnarok. In the hands of Ragnorok was the shining Gems of Fire and Ice, the keys being the determining factor to the fate of the dragons. Yes, the ritual was the simplest way to end all of this. Hiccup nodded to Asmund, in agreement to proceed with the trial. The two men backed up to their respective edges on opposites side of the ritual stage.

"My name is Asmund," the leader of the Berserker said.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," the Chief of Berk replied.

The fires, around the altar flared, and with weapons in hand, the two warriors charged.

OoOoO

No matter what Astrid did, she could not break the other woman. They matched blow for blow and strike to strike. But Yrivanna was an impenetrable wall, slightly out of breath but her composure remained steadfast.

Astrid gripped the handle of her axe tighter, her knuckles turning white. Her battleaxe was simply too slow for a duel between two people. It was the same problem as Hiccup. All the power of an axe was nothing if it meant it couldn't hit its mark. Astrid eyed the daggers of her opponent warily. Luckily Astrid wasn't a one trick pony and was time to put her extra secret practise to use.

Astrid charged in and swung at Yrivanna, to which her opponent deftly side stepped as always. Preparing to strike with her daggers, this time, Astrid was ready. Dropping her axe, Astrid surprised Yrivanna by tackling her to the ground. Astrid snatched a sheathed dagger from her opponent and took a stab at Yrivanna for the final finishing blow.

OoOoO

Within the center of the mountain, before a sleeping God, the sound of metal clashing on metal reverberated and echoed across the vast open space of Ragnarok's domain.

Clashing all over the ritual stage. Asmund and Hiccup fought to gain the upper hand. Asmund circled the stage in a sprint before charging towards Hiccup who had taken control of the center. The vibration from the weapons clashing traveled from Asmund's sword, to his hand and reverberated into his very core. Pivoting to Hiccup's back Asmund let loose a flurry of slashes. Sparks and embers flew as Hiccup deftly countered each strike

Another unsuccessful attack, Asmund gritted his teeth and sucked in his pride as he was forced to jump back. Asmund's hands shook as he held his sword, his body desperate for oxygen as the sound of him breathing echoed in his head and his legs felt like they would break into two. Desite Hiccup unyielding style of a rock and never giving ground, Asmund could tell that his opponent was slowing down.

Despite his losing position, Asmund still had his ace. He just needed to find or create an opportunity to create it. One way or another, they were both at their limit, and the fight will be ending soon enough.

His opponent feeling the same, finally moved from his place at the center and charged at Asmund.

"_Now_!" Asmund thought seeing his opportunity. His blood boiled and his body felt like it was on fire. Asmund saw the flash of Hiccup's blade approaching in a downward motion to his head. Countering with an upward swing, the power behind Asmund's sword took Hiccup by surprise. Hiccup's blade was knocked out of Hiccup's hand and flew up high into the air.

Hiccup left defenceless, Asmund circled his sword back and went for the finishing blow.

OoOoO

The gleam of Astrid's dagger flew straight towards Yrivanna's head, but was stopped dead in its path, as her wrist was grabbed by a vice like grip. No matter how much force she put in, Astrid's hand would not move. An expression of shock fell onto Astrid face as she realized what was happening. Before she could react any further Astrid was kicked off of Yrivanna and Astrid tumbled back

Astrid was paralyzed with shock as Yrivanna slowly and quietly, got up from the floor. Her eyes were red! Ever since she had heard about the Berserkers from Valka, she had wondered if they too had the same hidden power and red eyes that the old norse tales often described. Astrid's worst fears have come to fruition.

In the small cramped room, Astrid found herself repeatedly pushed back. For each attack with her dagger Astrid executed, Yrivanna countered with her own weapon and let loose a devastating hit as punishment. Astrid quickly found herself completely bruised and battered.

What was once a even match, Astrid found herself completely overpowered by Yrivanna. Her opponent reacted quicker, her movements faster and her strikes hit harder. Yrivanna used to be in the same position her, disheveled and on the brink of collapse, but now she stood tall, with a cool calmness to her.

Gasping in hoarse rasps, Astrid rattled her mind to find to find an answer. Her blond hair clung onto her sweaty forehead in distasteful clumps. She needed to channel her inner Hiccup, and come up with something creative. From beneath her feet Astrid spied her battleaxe that she haphazardly dropped. She would have only one chance and had to be perfect.

Bending her knees and lowering herself, Yrivanna, took in a deep breath before charging at Astrid.

Mustering up the rest of her energy, Astrid kicked her battleaxe, sending the weapon spinning horizontally towards Yrivanna. Even with heightened reactions, the Berserker was caught unprepared as the circular handle of the battleaxe spun towards her and landed on top of her foot. Losing traction of the floor, the sleek wooden handle slid backwards along with Yrivanna's right foot causing her to stumble forwards, and stopping completely with her left foot forward.

With Yrivanna's eyes forced downward to the floor. Astrid moved forward for the last ditch effort. Yrivanna tried to sidestep Astrid's attack but even her Berserker boosted speed was unable to avoid the deep slice on her shoulder. Pressing her advantage, Astrid managed to get another strike in at her thigh. Two hands on her daggers, Astrid sidestepped and went for the final strike once more.

But Astrid's dagger touched nothing but air. One moment Yrivanna was right in front of her and in the next she was gone. In motion and wide eyed, Astrid knew that, despite her best efforts, she had lost.

Moving faster than what her injuries would suggest, Yrivanna spun around Astrid and let loose a combination of strike before unleashing a ferocious sidekick to Astrid's chest. The force of the kick sent Astrid flying out the window and even before hitting the ground, Astrid lost consciousness as her vision faded to black.

OoOoO

Hiccup was taken by surprise as Asmund knocked his blade high up into the air. There seemed to be no time for him to react as Asmund approached for the finishing blow. But as he got closer and closer, Asmund's sword seemed to move slower and slower. Hiccups blade spinning up in the air seemed to stayed above longer than it should have as if it was floating. The fires surrounding the ritual stage no longer flickered wildly and seemed frozen.

Time had seemingly have slowed down allowing Hiccup to take everything in. His hands that were once shaking were now completely still. The pains from his cuts and bruises that Hiccup had accumulated so far, had stopped burning. The throbbing pain of his stumped leg had also subsided. The only thing he could feel was the fire that radiated in his heart.

Even Asmund, despite his forceful push towards Hiccup, moved slow as if he was being dragged back or as if he was moving underwater. Hiccup could see every detail of his opponent. The cut on his arm that Hiccup had made, the slight preference towards his right leg after Hiccup had dealt a blow to his other leg. He could see that Asmund eyes had turned red, just like his own.

This was the power gifted by Oden.

Quick as lightning Hiccup unsheathed his dagger from his arm, and deflected Asmund's sword. The resulting clash with Asmund's sword caused Hiccup's dagger to shatters, unable to contain the energy inside the small blade. Taken completely by surprise Asmund was unprepared as Hiccup kicked him in the chest that sent him flying to the back of the stage.

Clutching his chest, Asmund stood wide eyed as Hiccup retreated and retrieved his sword that had landed further back on the stage "The red eyes of a Berserker," Asmund whispered in disbelief. Hiccup's emerald eyes had turned blood red.

"We are all descendants of the Berserkers," Hiccup said as he inspected his blade for any damage and recalled the brief history that his mother had given him yesterday, "Although some more than others," Hiccup noted as he turned away from his blade and looked to the pure descendent of the Berserkers.

"I suppose you're right," Asmund said with a sigh as he got up off the floor. "Legends hold that once the blood of a Berserker awakens and his eyes turns blood red, he will fight with endless energy until his enemies or himself is dead."

Hiccup gently waved his blade, feeling the lightness of his weapon as he contemplated Asmund's words. The few times he had gone into Berserker mode, the blood of his enemies certainly did not have to be all over the floor for his blood to calm, simply incapacitated was sufficient. It would certainly be a problem if his power didn't turn off whenever he faced off against Astrid.

"So what are you trying to say?" Hiccup asked, "That if it turns out that we are evenly matched that we could be here for awhile?"

"Yes that is certainly a possibility," Asmund confirmed.

"Then we should get started," Hiccup said as he dashed towards Asmund.

The tempo of fight compared to moments ago had just doubled. With renewed vigour and energy Hiccup clashed with Asmund expanding across the entire area of the stage. Ten strikes, turned into twenty, into thirty, and even more as both fighters fought relentlessly.

Hiccup parried Asmund's swords and flung his sword off the stage. Even without a weapon Asmund's Berserker blood made him fearless, as he charged at Hiccup unarmed. Sidestepping Hiccup's blade, Asmund grabbed onto Hiccup's sword arm. In a battle of strength the pair wrestled for control of the fiery blade. The struggle ended in a draw as Hiccup's blade was also flung off the stage.

With no weapons left, the pair resorted to their fists. A flurry of punches and counters are traded between the two warriors.

However, the fight was far from even. Hiccup still had one more trick up his sleeve. Sidestepping a punch, Hiccup let loose a ferocious kick with his metal leg to which, Asmund blocked cleanly with his arm. Without losing pace, Asmund moved left and let loose a punch only to be blocked and countered attacked with Hiccup's metal leg.

With every opportunity Hiccup chose to attack with his metal leg. Taking advantage of Hiccup's predictableness, Asmund blocked each of Hiccup's attack with ease and swiftly countered with his own. Despite the constant knock backs, Hiccup remained undeterred as he charged in once more, opening his attack with his metal leg and once more, Asmund blocked. With a spinning kick Asmund sent Hiccup flying back once more.

Finally Hiccup chose to attack with something other than his metal leg. An obvious and direct punch towards Asmund's face. Moving into position Asmund countered with his own fist. But in that very moment, Asmund went wide eyed, completely taken in by surprise. In his periphery vision, where his fist and arm should be, had gone completely missing. In that very moment Asmund realized that he had lost.

A Berserker who has activated his blood can feel no pain. However, the absence of pain was not the absence of injury. All the constant clashes, all the times that he had used his arms to block Hiccup's metal leg and shortly knocked back, Hiccup came out the victor. When it was a clash between bone versus metal, metal was the clear victor.

Asmund looked down and saw his arms hanging loosely at his side. He poured all of his will into moving one his arms but it all for not. Both of his arms were broken and was left completely defenceless. Relenting to his fate, Asmund watched as Hiccup's fist slowly approached him and connected to his face. The force behind Hiccup's fist was so powerful that it knocked Asmund off the stage.

OoOoO

One moment Hiccup was fighting to the very inch of his life, the next moment, he was standing in completely different world.

Hiccup was standing on a beautiful grassy plains, with gentles winds that caressed the fields of grass and in the far distance, stood tall mountains that touched the sky. North, west, east, and south the mountains could be seen from all directions.

"You have been chosen to be the Guardian of Fire. To be gifted with the stewardship of all dragons. In return you will protect the Gens of Fire and Ice and watch over the gates of Asgard. Will you accept this life contract?"

Hiccup spun in circles, looking for the source of the voice but found nothing. The voice was so loud and booming that it practically echoed despite the vast open air of the sky. It was as if the voice was bouncing off the clouds.

"To protect the keys between worlds and become the shepherd of dragons? Will you young descendant, accept the life contract?" the voice repeated once more.

Does that mean he won, and completed the ritual? Was this the voice of Ragnarok?"

To become the shepherd of all dragons? If Hiccup was completely honest with himself, he didn't want to be the protector of the Gems of Fire and Ice. To become the shepherd of all dragons. But in truth, Hiccup never wanted to become the chief of Berk either. All he ever wanted was peace and for his friends to be safe. But for some reason his dreams always ends with more fighting.

But nothing has stopped Hiccup's goal so far. If this is what Hiccup needed to do then he would gladly do whatever it took. Gathering up the fire inside him and all of his resolve, Hiccup stared up to the clear open blue skies, taking in a deep breathe.

He was the son of Stoick The Vast and a descendant of the Berserkers. Hiccup wasn't about to let anything get in the way of protecting Astrid, his friends, his tribesmen, Toothless or any of the other dragons.

"I accept the contract."

OoOoO

On a cliffside overwatching, the oceanside of Berk, Hiccup sat on a rock, in deep contemplation. The sea breeze, gently caressed his hair and open tunic. The Gems of Fire and Ice dangled freely around his neck.

Hiccup remained unmoved as wood hitting rock and earth drew closer and closer.

"Hiccup?" Valka said rousing her son's attention as she laid down her staff and sat down next to her son.

"Where's Astrid? I thought she would be here with you." Valka asked.

"She woke up early, and went off to train. She wasn't very happy with what happened." Hiccup explained. When Hiccup found Astrid laying on the ground, struggling to get up, Hiccup rushed to help her but was immediately forced to back off. The pain in her eyes in that moment was more painfully than any real physical blow. But this defeat would never keep down Astrid Hofferson. Hiccup swore he would do whatever it took to never see that pain in her eyes ever again.

"And what of the mysterious group of dragon riders what happened to them?" Valka asked as she recalled their clash with the group to protect Fishlegs. If you could call it a fight. Somehow the twins got everyone into a flinching contest. In the end the mysterious group of masked riders having felt that they had sufficiently wasted enough of their time had simply left.

"They're gone, I have taken over their duties as the Guardian of Fire, and they have entrusted me with the care taking of the dragons. They left their dragons behind on Ragnarok's mountain, and they said that they were leaving the archipelago to explore the world." Hiccup replied, with a feeling that he would never see Berserker group ever again.

"That is a lot of responsibility, for one person" Valka commented.

"It is," Hiccup acknowledged with a sigh, "But I still have Toothless and Astrid, all my friends and you mother, to help me. And so I must carry on no matter what it takes."

Valka with a pitying look, wrapped her arms around her son. After so many years without ever seeing her son grow up, Valka could never grow tired of holding her son in her arms. In response to her mother's embrace, Hiccup leaned in closer into his mother's warmth. As he slowly began to relax more and more, Hiccup noticed a speck in the distance that was not there before.

"What's wrong Hiccup?" Valka asked as she felt Hiccup's body stiffen.

Wordlessly Hiccup pulled a telescope from behind his back and passed the seeing instrument to Valka. His mother gave Hiccup a curious look as she took the telescope. Lifting the narrow end of the scope to her eye, Valka drew her sight towards the horizon line. In four wide angles, Valka could see four long ships their massive sails adorned with four distinctive color schemes and massive flags that flapped proudly along the ocean breeze.

"Bogs Burglars, Meat Heads, Bashem Oiks, and Lava Louts," Valka recalled, correctly identifying the colors associated with their respective clans. In mere moment the most powerful ruling tribes of the Archipelago were about to meet that has never happened in years since the previous tragedy struck.

The Great Gathering of Chiefs was about to begin.

OoOoO

Quietly sitting on a rock, legs firmly pushed to her chest with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. Elsa's translucent body watched as Hiccup and Valka got up from their rock and made their way back to the village.

Elsa should have followed because once Hiccup was too far away the world would soon start to fade away as the memory world could not fill what Hiccup could not see. But Elsa wouldn't budge, too busy with her own mind, lost in a sea of emotions and thoughts.

But suddenly, instead of the world slowly fading, the memory world began to shake. This was no earthquake as the world shook violently and even the skies shook.

"Elsa!" a booming voice said that echoed across the world in a godly matter

"Elsa!" the voice repeated once more and snapping the Queen of Arendelle out of her thoughts.

"Hiccup?" Elsa said as she recognized his voices. Slowly the world around her shattered into a million pieces like a shattered mirror and was replaced with a black void.

Elsa's eyes opened with a meer peep, her eyelids struggling to open.

"Elsa!" Hiccup said with a worried voice, but with a sense of relief upon seeing her wake up. Hiccup gently shook her on the shoulder as he tried to get her back to her senses.

Elsa tried to respond back to Hiccup but a wave of sensations suddenly passed through her.

Her body was sweating all over profusely but her body was on fire and shivering at the same time. Her muscles felt weak and she could barely feel her hands and feet. Her sleeping gown felt heavy as it clung greedily onto her sweat drenched skin. Her vision began to blur as Hiccup's face turned into a mop of brown. A huge wave of dizziness passed through her before the one final overwhelming sense of nausea overcame her body.

With what little energy she had, Elsa struggled to move in one direction, pushing past a wave of vertigo. Moving her head over the bedside, the Snow Queen barely made it in time to heave the contents of her stomach.

* * *

Author's end notes: In the next chapter, we are back to the present for a bit to find out what's been happening in Arendelle.

Cover page by Mistress of Snow

Reviews, Favorites, and Follows are welcome and appreciated


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